50 Iowa 494 | Iowa | 1879
The doctrine of the cases relied upon by counsel for defendants is that the rights of the . parties are the same, whether the mortgage be such in form, or in the form of a conveyance of the legal title. This may be admitted, with this distinction, however: By a statutory mortgage the legal title remains in the mortgagor. By a conveyance of the legal title to secure the payment of money the grantor reserves the right in equity to redeem the property, and against an action at law for the possession of the land he may interpose his equitable defense. Burdick v. Wentworth, 42 Iowa, 440. That the legal title was vested in Taylor by the conveyance from Henry Crawford, must be regarded as settled in this State. Farley, Norris é Go. v. Goocher, 11 Iowa, 570; Bur-dick v. Wentworth, supra. The legal title must prevail unless the equitable defense is interposed. It having been adjudged in the former action that Crawford’s right to redeem is barred by the statute, that judgment is an end of the controversy.
Affirmed.