21 S.C. 51 | S.C. | 1884
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On January 5,1881, Lawrence M. Whaley entered into a written agreement with one Samuel Middleton as follows: “I, Samuel Middleton, do hereby agree to
This contract was never indexed or recorded, but Middleton took possession under it. He got some supplies from Whaley under the contract, there being still a balance therefor of $116 due Whaley. During the year he desired other supplies, and in February he gave an agricultural lien for supplies to B. Jacobson & Son, merchants, to the amount of $135. This lien was properly indexed in the clerk’s oifice, February 23, 1881. Middleton delivered the 1,200 pounds of lint cotton to the landlord, Whaley, but did not pay him the balance for advances by him. On December 29, 1881, B. Jacobson & Son procured from the clerk a warrant to seize the crop remaining in the possession of Middleton, and A. M. Salley, the sheriff, levied on cotton seed, fodder, hay, and rice straw, and was about to sell the same, when Whaley, the landlord, brought this action before a trial justice to recover possession of said articles as his property, there being still a balance due to him for advances made during the year.
The jury in the trial justice’s court rendei’ed a verdict for defendant, and the plaintiff appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. Judge Wallace affirmed the decision, and the plaintiff a-ppeals upon the following exceptions: “1. Because under the agreement, Middleton’s interest in the crop to be produced by his labor was
This court has held in several cases «that a mere employé, who cultivates the crop of another for hire, either in money or a part of the crop, is not, in the sense of the agricultural acts, “a cultivator of the soil,” and entitled, before a division of the crop, to dispose of it or encumber it with liens; but that one who is the owner, or entitled under contract or lease to the possession of the soil which he cultivates on his own account, may give a lien upon the crop thereon produced, subject, however, in the case of a lessee, to the right of the landlord to have his rent first to the extent of one-third of the crop, and that without recording or filing. Kennedy v. Reames, 15 S. C., 551; Richey & Miller v. DuPre, 20 S. C., 6; Carpenter v. Strickland, Id., 1.
The first question is as to the relation which Middleton bore to Whaley, the owner of the land. Did the contract make him a tenant or a mere employé ? It is somewhat confused, and all of its parts are not consistent with each other; but taken as a whole, rve think it gave Middleton possession of the premises', and was substantially a lease for a year. A lease is defined to be “in effect a conveyance of the possession of property (generally lands or houses) for a fixed period, and usually with the, reservation of a rent.” Rap. Law. L. Dict., 735.
It is true that the stipulations Avhich required Middleton to deliver the crops after they were gathered, “in accordance with the direction of Whaley or his agent,” looks as if there was some intention to retain possession of the place; but, on the other hand,, the stipulations that Middleton Avas to “occupy the place” and “keep it in repair,” and that “the landlord would make advances to him,” are only consistent Avith the idea of a temporary transfer of possession. Middleton Avas to occupy, the premises, to
This contract is very different from that in Huff v. Watkins, 15 S. C., 83, which gave the landlord “the entire control of the time and services of the efliployé in working his lands under his exclusive direction and control from sun to sun.” “A servant, strictly speaking, is a person who, by contract or operation of law, is for a limited period subject to the authority or control of another person in a particular trade, business, or occupation.” Wood M. & S., 2. We think Middleton was a tenant of the landlord, Whaley, and “a cultivator of the soil” in the sense, of the agricultural acts.
Taking this as settled, Middleton had such an interest in the crop to be made as enabled him to encumber it with liens for advances, subject always to the rights of the landlord for his rent to the extent of one-third of the crop. But in this view, it is urged that the plaintiff also made advances, and being the landlord, his lien was “prior and preferred,” whether it was registered or not. It was Middleton’s covenant to take “the residue of the crop after these advancements were paid;” and if he had delivered the crop to the landlord in discharge of this obligation, Jacobson & Son could not have recovered their claim in money from him. See Kennedy v. Reames, supra. But Middleton did not so deliver the crop, which, remaining in his possession, was seized under the warrant of Jacobson & Son, and this gives rise to a different question, viz., whether the landlord had such title in.the crop as to enable him to recover possession of it from the sheriff, not under agricultural warrant, but in an ordinary action for delivery of personal property.
As an ordinary lienee, he certainly had no such right, for sevéral reasons, and especially because his lien was not recorded as required by law. As landlord he had the right to his rent to thfe limit before indicated. What was his rent? . Was it limited
The law favors the landlord, but we do not suppose that, in giving priority to rent, the legislature had in contemplation such contracts as this, or intended to do more than to secure the rent proper to the landlord, and then leave him to make agricultural advances to his tenants upon the same terms and conditions as to recording, &c., as were imposed upon all others. The law expressly declares such to be the intention as to so much of the crop as exceeds one-third, and we do ' not see why it should not be so construed in reference to advances made by the landlord to his tenant, which are not in its proper sense “rent.”
The judgment of this court is, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.