26 Ind. 395 | Ind. | 1866
Ejectment. There was a special verdict, finding, amongst other things, that the plaintiff had become the purchaser of the lands at sheriff’s sale, under a decree of foreclosure in his favor against the defendant, that public notice that the sheriff’s sale would take place at &c., on the 13th of February, 1864, was given by the sheriff for three weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and by posting notices in three places in the township where the lands were situated; that on the day thus appointed for the sale, it was forbidden by injunction until February 17; that the sheriff*, at the instance of Stewart, the plaintiff, without offering the property for sale, adjourned the sale until July 18, giving no notice thereof except by ringing the court house bell, and stating the adjournment; that on the 17th the injunction was continued in force until the 20th, and on the 18th a similar adjournment of the sale
The notice was clearly insufficient. The statute plainly requires that “ the time and place of making sale of real estate on execution shall be publicly advertised by the sheriff for at least twenty days successively next before the day of sale” in a newspaper, and by posting notices, &c. The ringing of bells and making public oral proclamation of the fact four days before the sale is not, either in substance or form, a compliance with this statute; and to give it the sanction of this court would be to open a wide door for abuse and wrong. The fact that an injunction had forbidden the sale on the day for which it was advertised constitutes no reason for relaxing the requirement of the statute, hut quite the contrary. Bidders learning of the injunction would have no motive to be present on the 13th, and would not consequently be likely to know of the adjournment. The case of Givan v. Doe, 5 Blackf. 260, was where the sale had been duly advertised for the 25th of June, and on that day the lands were offered and bid off by one who failed to pay the purchase money. In such a case the statute authorized the sheriff' to re-expose the property on the same or any subsequent day. Without adjourning the sale, the officer offered the premises again on the 28th, and it was held that a purchaser with notice of the facts took no title. It was said by the court that under such circumstances a failure to give regular notice, if sanctioned, would he likely to result in abuse and oppression, and that the statute “ should receive a construction less dangerous in its conse
The judgment is reversed, with costs, and the cause re-' manded, with directions to render judgment for the defendant below.