21 Ind. 305 | Ind. | 1863
Andrew J. Shepherd brought this action against Raymond and others, to recover possession of certain real estated and to quiet his title thereto. The attorney by whom the action was commenced and conducted for Shepherd was William R. West, the present appellant. After the defendants had appeared and answered, &e., and while the cause was pending, Shepherd executed a conveyance of the property in controversy to West, and the latter caused himself to be substituted as plaintiff' in the action instead of Shepherd. West had no interest in the property until his purchase from Shepherd. West gave Shepherd for the property 310 dollars in cash, gave him up a written contract for 150 dol
West appeals and assigns numerous errors. Had the cause progressed to termination in the name of Shepherd it would have been necessary to examine the errors assigned, but as, from the view we take of the law as applied to the case, West could not have recovered in any event, such examination would be useless. The judgment below was right, inasmuch as West, on his own showing, had no valid title.
The purchase by West of the property in controversy, while it was in litigation, he being the attorney of Shepherd conducting the suit, we think was void, and no title passed by the conveyance. Says Chancellor Kent: “'It is the settled doctrine in England and in New York, and probably in most of the other States, that the purchase of land pending a suit concerning it, is champerty; and the purchase is void, if made with a knowledge of the suit, and not in consummation of a previous bargain. The statutes of Westm., 1 c. 25; Westm. 2 c. 49, and particularly the statute of 28 Edw. 1 c. 11, established that doctrine, which became incorporated into the common law.” 4 Kent’s Com., 10th ed., p. 530. This doctrine was acted upon to the fullest extent in the case of Jackson v. Ketchum, 8 John. 479. We have adopted the English statutes above mentioned. Scobey v. Ross, 13 Ind. 117. If the doctrine above stated be correct to the full extent stated, the sale and conveyance to West, pending the litigation, would have been void, even if he had not been the attorney of Shepherd. But it is not necessary that we should, nor do we in the present case, decide that a sale to any person of property pending litigation concerning it, would be void. We place the case upon the ground that the sale was made to the attorney of Shepherd pending the litigation. We take it to be
West rightly failed to recover, because he had no title, whatever might have been the state of the case as between Shepherd, and the defendant.
Her Curiam. — The judgment below is affirmed, with costs.