8 Ga. 374 | Ga. | 1850
By the Court.
delivering the opinion.
If this proceeding be considered as instituted under the Act of 1830, it cannot be sustained. That Act relates to bills of ne exeat, and contemplates a remedy, in Chancery, for remainder-men and reversioners by that kind of bill. The Act of 1830 refers to cases where the tenant for life, being in possession or control of the property, apprehensions are entertained by the person in remainder, that it will be removed beyond the jurisdiction of the State, and that his rights therein will be impaired. In such cases, by that Act, upon making affidavit of such apprehensions, and of the value of the property, and of his right to it, the remainder-man is entitled to the writ of ne exeat; and Chancery will interpose with a preventive remedy, and restrain the tenant for life from removing the property beyond the limits of the State, or require bond and security that it shall be subject and accessible to the demand of the complainant.
Bills quia timet are more extensively remedial than bills ne exeat. The latter are founded upon apprehensions of removal with the property, beyond the. jurisdiction; whereas, the former are founded upon the waste, loss, deterioration or injury to personal property, in the hands of the party entitled to the present possession, or the danger of such waste, loss, deterioration or injury. Mr. Story says, “ In all eases of this sort, where there is a future right of enjoyment of personal property, Courts of Equity-will now interpose and grant relief upon a bill quia timet, where there is any danger of loss, or deterioration, or injury to it, in the hands of the party who is entitled to the present possession.” Story’s Equity, §845.
Where a specific legacy is given to'one for life, and after his death, to another, the legatee in remainder is entitled to come into a Court of Equity, by quia timet, and have a decree for security from the tenant for life, for the due delivery over of the legacy to the remainder-man, upon allegation and proof of waste, or of danger of waste of the property. Story’s Equity, §604. Maddox’s Ch. Pr. 178, 179. 1 Ch. R. 110. 2 Freem. R. 206. 1 Bro. Ch. R. 279. 3 P. Williams, 335, ’6. Covenhoven vs. Shuler, 2 Paige’s R. 122, 132.
The case made in this bill, falls under this rule. What is it? The bill alleges that Jordan, the testator, left certain negroes to bis wife for life, with remainder to the complainants; that the tenant for life went into possession, and then intermarried with the defendant, Riddle ; that Riddle sold ten of the negroes, being issue of the slaves bequeathed, to his son and one Williamson, for $2,000 ; that these negroes are worth $8,000 ; that Riddle, Jr. and Williamson bought with knowledge of the complainant’s title in remainder; that immediately upon this sale, the tenant for life, Riddle, confederating with the purchasers, Riddle, Jr. and Williamson, to defraud the complainants, and to defeat their title in remainder, clandestinely removed the negroes out of the State to parts unknown, and sold them, for the sum of $8,000. The prayer is, that Riddle and his confederates be decreed to pay over to the complainants the full present value of the slaves, or such other-sum as their actual interest in them may be worth; or that they
But it is insisted that the Court ought to have sustained the demurrer on the first ground, to wit: that the plaintiffs in the bill have an adequate remedy at Law, and therefore, Chancery has no jurisdiction. From what has been already said, it is plain that they cannot have an ample remedy at Law. Although the title in remainder vests.with the estate for life, yet the enjoyment and
But it is said, that at the expiration of the life estate, the complainants would be entitled to recover the value of the estate, in an action at Law, and therefore, Chancery has no jurisdiction. I apprehend there is no doubt about the truth of the fu*st part of this proposition; but the remedy at Law to oust the jurisdiction of Chancery, must not only be complete, but it must be prompt —it must be available now. The complainants are not to be told, that because 'they may have an ample remedy at some future day, they are now to be denied the relief which' their case demands. They are not to be put upon the hazard's (of insolvency of the defendants, for example,) to which tliéir postponement Would be incident. This doctrine would annul all the law of quia timet to be found in the books. To this point, see the case of James Boyce’s Executors, appellants, vs. Felix Grundy, appellee, 3 Peters, 210.
So, we think the demurrér éánitotf be sustained' upon either
Let the judgment of the Court below be affirmed.