160 Ga. 15 | Ga. | 1925
(After stating the foregoing facts.) In the fall of 1922 E. B. Eeeves foreclosed a distress warrant for rent on a crop raised by his tenant, Tom Hughes, claiming 2500 pounds of lint-cotton as rent for said year. Hughes filed a counter-affidavit, and Williams & Company filed an equitable intervention, setting forth the circumstances which appear in the' statement of facts, and alleging that it had no notice or knowledge of the change in the rent contract, and that if any change was made it
But it is insisted first that the rights of the landlord are not to be affected by any belief on the part of a third party, no matter how such party’s welfare might be affected by a delusion as to a matter in which he is not concerned. It is asserted, and it is sound law, that a landlord has a right to make such agreement for the rental of his land as may be agreeable to the tenant, and that no one who may supply his tenant with articles necessary to make a crop can complain, unless the landlord says or does something to deceive the person supplying the same. It is urged that the landlord can not be estopped to assert the priority of his lien over that of a mortgagee on the crops, under such circumstances
If A, a landlord, who for several years had furnished his tenant, B, with no supplies or guano, but who had permitted C, a dealer in farming supplies and guano, to furnish the same to his tenant with his knowledge, 0 taking crop mortgages on the entire crops and receiving all the products raised by the tenant, and paying therefrom for the tenant one third of all crops except cotton, and one fourth of the cotton raised upon the farm, the supply dealer also furnishing the tenant, in addition to guano and other supplies necessary to make the crop, the live stock with which the land was cultivated, this, without more, might not authorize an
We have not been cited to any ruling of this court upon facts identical with those of this case; but considering the general principles as to fraud laid down in our Code, we are convinced that the verdict, under the evidence adduced, is not contrary to law. Section 4419 of the Civil Code declares that “a fraud may be committed by acts as well as words.” Silence is an act when it is intentionally used to suppress the truth. Suppression of the truth is not a fraud unless used as a means of deceiving another. No man is compelled to break silence and speak, unless there is an obligation resting upon him to speak. However, an obligation to speak may, undem particular circumstances, be a suppression of the truth, within the terms of section 4624, supra. That section declares: “Suppression of a fact material to be known, and which the party is under an obligation to communicate, constitutes fraud. The obligation to communicate may arise . . from the particular circumstances of the case.” It is true that, as a general rule, one who is contracting with another is under no
In reply to the argument that the evidence did not authorize the jury to find that the silence of Eeeves was intentional and maintained for the purpose of getting an advantage by inducing Williams & Company to supply Hughes, his tenant, because he had been informed by Hughes that he had sufficient supplies to make the crop of 1922, we can only say that the real truth as to all matters appearing in the record was for the determination of the jury upon consideration of all the evidence. Conceding that Hughes made the foregoing statement to Eeeves, still, under the evidence as to farming conditions in 1920 and 1921 and the knowledge of Eeeves as to where Hughes had obtained his supplies in 1920 and 1921, the jury were authorized to find that the statement of Hughes to Eeeves, his landlord, that he had supplies enough for 1922 (when the truth was that he had delivered all of his crop for 1921, except a few bushels of corn, to Williams &
Judgment affirmed.