34 Ga. 53 | Ga. | 1864
By the Court.
delivering the opinion.
Defendant, in the Court below, moved to dismiss the Bill, first, for want of jurisdiction in the Court, and, secondly, for want of equity in the Bill.
He also moved to dissolve the injunction, on the ground that the equity of the Bill had been removed by the answer in direct response to it. The Court below dismissed the Bill upon the first ground, but expressed the opinion that there was equity in the Bill, which had not been sworn off. To the first portion of his ruling the complainant excepted, as did the defendant to the last.
The defendant denies the jmisdiction, and rests his denial upon a provision of the Constitution contained in the last clause of the same section, and immediately following that above quoted, in these words: “And, also, in all equity causes, which shall be tried in the county, where one or more of the defendants reside, against whom substantial relief is prayed. ”
It is alleged, in the Bill, that the land, the sale of which is the matter in controversy, lies in the County of Lee. What, in intendment of the Constitution, are “ cases respecting titles to land ? ” We understand them to be, cases in which the plaintiff asserts his title to the land in question, and depends fora recoveryupon his maintenance of it; or to supply a link in the chain, wanting by reason of accident or other cause. In order to determine whether or not a plaintiff at Law or a complainant in Equity, who selects his forum upon this clause of the Constitution, has made a case of jurisdiction for the selected Court, it is necessary to examine carefully, his allegations. What then is the gravamen in this case? Is it that at the time of filing this Bill, the complainant had title to the lands, and that the defendant held possession, or committed waste, or did any other act, respecting them, without his consent, and in derogation of his title ? blot at all. On the contrary, he alleges, that on, and previous to, the 15th day of July, A. D. 1863, he had title to, and was possessed of them; that on that day, for a consideration stated, he bargained and sold them to defendant, and executed to him, in due form of law, a deed for the same; and that, at a subsequent time, he delivered to the purchaser the possession, under and by virtue of that sale. In other words, that he had voluntarily passed to the defendant
The case, then, does not respect title to lands, but is respecting a contract in relation to them, and certain fraudulent practices, which, it is„ alleged, vitiate that contract. It follows that, the character or nature of the case does not give jurisdiction to the Superior Court of Lee County.
It also appears by the Bill, that the defendant resides not in the County of Lee, but in the County of Macon, in this State, which, under the last clause of the section quoted above, fixes the proper jurisdiction in Macon County, and of course the Superior Court of Lee county can take no furthe rcognizance of the case.
These are, that the note representing the consideration for the land was not drawn according to the contract, but a medium of payment, not being a legal tender, and not agreed upon, was surreptitiously inserted, as expressly stipulated, and the note, thus written,, was first falsely read to an illiterate, pur-blind, old man, and then delivered and accepted in ignorance of its contents; that the defendant made his purchase to depend upon complainant’s receiving in payment, the treasury notes of the Confederate Government, and asked credit for eighteen months or more, on.on e-half of the sum; that com- ' plainant refused to give credit for any portion of it, beyond the first of the ensuing January, unless such portion were paid “ in good money, not in Confederate notesbut agreed to receive payment of the whole, in Confederate notes, if paid promptly on the first of January, thus, with- good reason (as subsequent events proved) making time, of the essence of the contract; that defendant not only agreed to make that the time of payment on the face of the note, and did so make it, but gave a personal pledge of promptness in observance’of the time; that on the first of January he failed to pay, and (complainant refusing to deliver possession) afterwards promised to pay the whole in Confederate notes, upon receiving-possession ; that complainant, having upon tlio faith of this new promise, placed him in possession, he again refused, or failed to make payment; that he never tendered payment until after the passage of an act of the Confederate Congress, which had the effect of at once reducing the value of that currency as a circulating medium, one-third, which enabled him to procure funds for the payment of complainant, at this reduced value, and made it impossible for the latter (should he receive them, as tendered, at their nomininal value) to realize the consideration for which he had bargained and sold his land; that complainant offered to receive those notes, then, at their statutory and market depreciation, which offer was rejected. If our proposition, that the
The judgment is affirmed.