106 Ala. 646 | Ala. | 1894
— A decree of the court having been rendered upon a bill filed by complainants, by which a deed of trust executed by the Empire Lumber Company was declared a general assignment for the benefit of all its creditors, and a receiver appointed to take charge of all the assets, Moore and others filed their petition, praying to be allowed to come in and prove their claims as preferred creditors. The right to priority was based upon the averment, that the Empire Lumber Company was indebted to petitioners for labor and materials, which entered into the permanent improvement of the property assigned for the benefit of its creditors.
The court granted to petitioner the relief prayed for, and decreed that they should be first paid in full for such services and materials rendered and furnished within six months preceding the appointment of the receiver. The doctrine contended for by appellees, Moore and others, has never been applied by any court that we are aware of, in a case like that before us — certainly not in this State. There are decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States, and it may be firmly established in that court, where this rule was declared and enforced, in favor of wages, labor, supplies and materials.furnished to railroads after they were placed in the hands of a receiver. — Fosdick v. Schall, 99 U. S. 235; Trust Co. v. Souther, 107 U. S. 594; Burnham v. Bowen, 111 U. S. 777. The principle thus far seems to have been limited to railroads and placed upon two main grounds : 1st, that railroads are quasi public corporations ; and, 2d, that he who seeks the aid of a court of equity must be willing to do equity. — 20 Am. & Eng. Encyc of Law, p. 417. Within the second head is embraced the general equity rule, that no man should acquire the benefit of another’s service or property without compensation,and as the mortgaged property has been enhanced by the services and materials of another, it is but equity that the mortgagee be required to do equity by paying for it. This doctrine followed to its legitimate end, it seems, would demonstrate the uselessness of statutory enactments to give laborers, mechanics and material-men prior liens, and other kindred statutes. The necessities of the present case do not require a discussion of the principle, and we content ourselves with the following extract from the case of Kneeland v. American Loan & Trust Company, 136 U. S. 89 :
The Empire Lumber Company was not continued as a business concern. It was not a railroad, and possessed none of the elements or interests of a public, or quasi public corporation. It was a strictly private business concern, organized and carried on for the purpose of making money for its owners and stockholders.
Reversed and remanded.