68 Mo. 649 | Mo. | 1878
Lead Opinion
— The note in suit is as follows, to-wit:
“ Brunswick, Mo., February 26th, 1872.
“ Three years after date, I promise to pay to the order of Henry L. Gaines, $500, for value received, negotiable and payable, without defalcation or discount, and with interest from date at the rate of ten -per cent, per annum; and if interest be not paid annually, to become as principal, and bear the same rate of interest.
(Signed) Turgen Wild.”
Npon which note was the following indorsement: “ This note is secured by deed of trust, stamped according to law.”
The petition alleged the due presentment of the note for payment, at the late residence of the maker, on the 1st day .of March, 1875, and the due notification to the indorser of non-payment. No point is made as to the form of the protest.
The cause was submitted to the court upon the follow
The deed of trust, so far as concerns the present inquiry, is as follows: “ But, should the first party fail or refuse to pay the said debt or the said interest, or any part thereof, when the same or any part thereof shall become due and payable according to the tenor, date and effect of said notes, then the whole shall become due and payable, and this deed shall remain in full force and effect, and the said party of the second part, * * at the request of the legal holder of the said notes, shall, or may proceed to sell,” &c. John H. Townsend was the trustee. This suit is brought for the balance due on the note declared on, the sale of the property incumbered failing to realize a sufficient sum. Judgment went for plaintiff, causing this appeal.
The salient question in the case befoi’e us is, whether the proper steps were taken “ to fix the indorser ” thus convei’ting his conditional liability into an absolute engagement. And the proper solution of this question depends upon the like solution of another, viz.: Whether’, under
The principle followed in Brownlee v. Arnold, 60 Mo. 79, was but an enunciation of the familiar rule above noted. There the deed of trust executed at the same time as the notes secured thereby, provided that the notes should not become due, nor the deed be foreclosed until the fourth note should mature. The first note was, after its maturity, transferred to a third party, who, for the purpose of an ordinary recovery, brought.suit thereon, and we held the action prematurely brought, holding that it was perfectly competent for the original parties thus to contract; that the notes and deed of trust should be “ read together and regarded as one instrument,” and that a purchaser with notice of the note - falling, according to its face, first due, occupied no better footing than the original payee. So, also, in Waples v. Jones, 62 Mo. 440, pursuing the same line of decisions where notes made payable in three years were secured by deed of trust, which provided that if the interest (made payable annually) was not paid when- it fell due, the whole debt should become immediately due, and the trustee might proceed to sell, it was ruled that the trustee rightfully exercised the power of sale on the occurrence of default as to the first year’s interest, request being made by .the holder of the notes.
The case of Morgan v. Martien, 32 Mo. 438, is without pertinency, for there the sole question was whether the exoneration of a surety had been accomplished by means of a subsequently executed deed of trust, to which the surety was no party, containing a provision that if any of the notes were not paid in thirty days after due, all the notes should become due immediately; and it was held that the surety was not released, and Judge Bay expressly gives as the grounds for the conclusion arrived at, that the
The decisive point in Mason v. Barnard, 36 Mo. 384, was, that Mi’s. Eithian was not a mortgagor, and consequently the judgment of foreclosure against her was void ; this was amply sufficient to dispose of the case, and it is quite evident that a remark made therein, arguendo, to the effect that it was not intended that.the note “ should become due for the purpose of obtaining a judgment at law,” was not very carefully weighed, as on the theory on which that case proceeds, Mrs. Eithian could not have been liable, even if such had been the intention, because she was party neither to the notes nor deed of trust, both having been made anterior to her reception of the deed for a portion of the land. That case, therefore, does not present the feature so prominent in this, of contemporaneously executed instruments making reference to, and thus becoming incorporated into each other. Besides, the' learned judge who delivered the opinion of the court in that case, concurred in the subsequent one of Brownlee v. Arnold, and himself wrote the opinion in Waples v. Jones, supra, announcing, in all its broadness, the view above expressed.
We are not called upon to, nor do we say, what would be the effect of a purchase made of negotiable paper, secured'by deed of trust, without any knowledge of a provision in such deed similar to the one under discussion. That
Again, it appears to be conceded by plaintiff’s counsel that upon the occurrence of default in the payment of interest; it was competent for the holder of the notes to have the property sold under the deed of trust. If this be true, and so it was ruled in Waples v. Jones, supra, then under our statute, (2 Wag. Stat., § 2, p. 954,) the holder, instead of requesting the trustee to sell, could have resorted to' an ordinary judgment of foreclosure. In such au event, if the mortgagor were summoned, what would that judgment be ? Clearly that the assignee of the debt recover that debt, to be levied of the mortgaged property; and if that be insufficient, that the residue be levied of other goods, &c., of the mortgagor. 2 Wag. Stat., §§ 8, 9, p. 955. If this be admitted, the correctness of the foregoing views is made manifest; for if the notes mature for the purpose of a sale under the deed of trust, then, also, for the purpose of fore
Reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting. — I dissent fi’om the foregoing opinion, because I conceive it to be wrong in principle, injurious in its effects, and in direct conflict with the previous decisions of this court.
It is in direct conflict with the case of Morgan v. James M. Martien, 32 Mo. 438. In that case it appeal’s that in May, 1857, Joseph G. Martien gave two notes to the plaintiff, Morgan, with the defendant, James M. Martien, as surety, one of which notes was due in one year, and the other in two years. Eor the purpose of securing said notes and other’s, Joseph G. Martien executed a trust deed containing the following provision : “ If.any one of said notes become due and remain for thirty days unpaid after due, then, by virtue of such default in the payment of any of the said notes, all the notes remaining unpaid shall, forthwith, become due and payable, as though due by the face thereof; and if said notes, or either of them, shall become due by their tenor, or the provisions of this trust, and be unpaid, then this deed shall remain in full force,” &c.'; and the trustees were authorized to proceed to sell. This deed,
The opinion of my associates is also in conflict with the decision of this court in the case of Hurck et al. v. Erskine, 45 Mo. 484. In that case three notes due respectively in one, two and.three years, were secured by a deed of trust, which provided that “ if said notes or interest, or any part thereof, be not well and truly paid when due, then all of
The opinion of my associates is also in conflict with the decision of this court in the case of Andrew F. Whelan v. Reilly et al., 61 Mo. 565. In that case the plaintiff had executed a note for $2,000, due iu three years, together with six interest notes for $100 each, maturing at stated intervals during the three years. The deed of trust securing the notes provided that in case of default in the payment of any of the interest notes, the whole amount of the debt secured should become due and payable. Default was made as to two of the interest notes, and the property was advertised for sale, but before the sale all the costs and expenses incurred by the trustee, together with the amount of the two interest notes which had matured, were tendered to the trustee, which he refused to receive unless the principal note was paid. This the debtor refused to pay, and the property was sold. Upon his application the circuit court set the sale aside, and this court affirmed its judgment. Judge Sherwood, who delivered the opinion of this court, speaking of the oppressive conduct of the trustee iu demanding payment of the whole debt, said: “ He knew the amount of the costs due him, and yet, when an amount sufficient to cover them, as well as the matured interest notes is offered, his lips are sealed, except to refuse the amount offered, unless the principal note was paid. He knew also, if he kneio the requirements of his position, that the default in the payment of the interest notes was cured by the sum ojfered him, and, therefore, that payment of the $2,000 note should, not have been demanded.” The cases of Morgan v. Martien, 32 Mo. 438, and Mason v. Barnard,, 36 Mo. 384, were both cited in argument, and relied upon by the counsel for Whelan, the plaintiff, and were followed by this court in that case, though they are not alluded to in the opinion. The same ruling was also made in the case of John Whelan v. Reilly et al., 61 Mo. 578.
The argument, based upon the assumption that, in a foreclosure suit on the trust deed in question, judgment would be rendered for the whole debt, whether due by the terms of the notes or not, is a plain petitio principii; and, besides, is completely overthrown by the decision in Mason v. Barnard, supra, where the precise point is deliberately
The rule in relation to reading several instruments together, is well stated in 2 Smith’s Leading Oases, 6 Am. Ed. p. 322, in the note to the celebrated case of' Wain v. Warlters, as follows : “Instruments executed at the same time, for the same pui'pose, and in the course of the same transaction, are, in the eye of the law, one instrument, and will be read and construed together, as if they were as much one in form as they are in substance. Church v. Brown, 21 N. Y. 315, 330. * * To bring this rule into operation and render two writings virtually one, for the purpose of construction and interpretation, both need not be written at the same time, nor even refer to each other in terms. Cross v. Norton, 2 Atkyns 74. It is enough that both have or are designed to effect the same end or subject, and that their mutual dependence and connection appear, on comparing or reading them together, with the aid of such extrinsic evidence as may be requisite to ascertain and identify their subject matter.”
An examination of the cases cited by the learned annotators in support of the foregoing rule, as well as the great mass of cases on the same subject to be found through the books, will show that this rule was never intended to be-so applied as to make a negotiable promissory note and a mortgage contemporaneously or subsequently executed to secure its paymeirt, as much one instrument, as if they were one in form. The rule relates to an entirely different class of cases. A note and mortgage do not constitute a single contract. They are separate instruments, executed for different purposes and differ in nature. The mortgage is governed by the law of real property, and the note by the law merchant. Potter v. McDowell, 43 Mo. 93, 98; Linville v. Savage, 58 Mo. 248; Logan v. Smith, 62 Mo. 455. All the authorities hold that the debt, which is evidenced by the note, is the principal thing, and the mortgage, which secures it, is simply an incident thereto. This has
It has never been announced by any court, so far as my reading has extended, that a negotiable promissory note loses its negotiability when its payment is secured by mortgage. Yet, if the opinion of my associates is to obtain, that a negotiable note and a mortgage contemporaneously executed to secure it, are, in the eye of the law, but one instrument, the note will not only lose its negotiability, but it will also lose its chai’acter as a promissory note, and become, in conjunction with its complement, the mortgage, an ordinary contract merely. It is only necessary to imagine a promise to pay money, and a mortgage to secure it, united in the same instrument, signed by the party to be charged, in order to see at a glance that the legal character of such a paper is not that of a negotiable promissory note, but of a simple contract. Apart from other provisions of the mortgage, in case of default the costs and expenses of executing the trust would render the amount to be paid by the promisor uncertain, and would bring such an instrument directly within the rule laid down by this court in First National Bank v. Gay et al., 63 Mo. 33.
It has been repeatedly decided that the transfer of a note secured by mortgage, entitles the indorsee to the benefit of the mortgage security, whether, at the time of the transfer, he knew of the existence of the mortgage or not. If, however, the mortgage, though recorded as provided by law, will not charge the holder of the note with notice of
, But if it be possible to preserve the negotiability of notes secured as the one here sued on, in the hands of persons having notice of the mortgage, and the opinion of my associates seems to assert that it is, must the holders of second and third installment notes, who may care nothing for the mortgage security, and may prefer to rely upon their indorsers, keep themselves informed, at their peril, as to the ownership of the first note, in order to ascertain whether there has been a default, and whether the notes held by them have become due, so that they may bind their indorsers? Such a requirement will be a new and inconvenient feature in the law of negotiable paper, and the time of payment of a negotiable promissory note so secured will vary accordingly as it may fall into the hands of those who have, or have not, notice of the mortgage.
The rule in relation to reading several instruments together is inapplicable to notes and mortgages. The two instruments are distinct and separate, and full effect should be given to both, aud to the obvious intention of the parties. This can only be done by following the decisions of this court which I have heretofore cited.
It is a matter of common information among the members of the bar in some sections of the State, that mortgages and deeds of trust containing provisions in relation
There is, therefore, nothing harsh or rigorous in the provisions of the trust deed under consideration. They are really in the interest and for the benefit of the mortgagor as well’as the creditor, as they require the proceeds of the sale to be applied at once to the payment of the debt, instead of leaving them in the hands of the trustee
I am, therefore, of opinion that the judgment of the circuit court should be affirmed.