1 Ala. 678 | Ala. | 1840
— It is certain that at common law, the goods and chattels of the judgment debtor were bound from the award of the execution, but it is not so clear whether the award spoken of, refers to the date, or the issuance of the court. In an anonymous case reported in Cro. Jas. 470, it is said goods are bound for the amount of the execution. In the case of Bencher v. Wiseman, ib. 440, the execution is said binds from its date. It is certain, however, that at common law the plaintiff might have several executions to different counties; (10 Vern. ab. 558; Dyer 161, b. pl. 51,) but we do not find any adjudged case as to the extent of the lien over more counties than one.
In England when all the judgments of the Kingdom, are enrolled in the three courts of King’s bench, common pleas or exchequer, there was good reason for the rule which bound the lands from the term at which the judgment was rendered, because every one could, with convenience, have access to the public records, but even these, the same rule has never applied to goods and chattels. If, however, these are bound in one county, when the execution is awarded to another, it is evident that there is no
The wrrit of fieri facias commands the sheriff to cause to be made, of the defendants goods and chattels, within the particular county, the sum ascertained by the judgment. Now it is plain, if the writ only binds the goods and chattels, against
We arrive, therefore, at the conclusion, that the execution under which the slaves were sold, attached asa lien only from the time when they came into the hands of the sheriffof Talladega county; and that the lien created by delivering the former execution to the sheriffof Coosa county, could only attach to personal estate, within the county.
The attachment having been levied on the slaves, created a lien which could not be divested by the executions subsequently placed in the hands of the sheriff, although on the same day* From this it results, that the instructions given to the jury were erroneous, and the judgment must be reversed, and the cause remanded.
We have omitted to notice the striking fact which is stated in the bill of exceptions, which is, that the levy on the attachment is stated on its return to have been discharged. We presume this must have been satisfactorily explained in the court below, otherwise, the case could never have assumed the aspect in which it is now presented. No question seems to have arisen in the circuit court, on this return, which the parties deemed important to present before this court, and therefore, we have not considered its effect in this case.