89 Ala. 368 | Ala. | 1889
On the trial of the motion to dissolve .the attachment, which was sued out by appellant to enforce the lien in favor of an agricultural laborer, it was admitted that plaintiff rendered labor and services for defendant during the year 1889, in and about the cultivation of the crop, upon which the attachment was levied, and that she had recovered judgment for the amount due her, in an ordinary civil suit before a justice of the peace. There was, however, no express contract, nor any specified sum promised to be paid as hire or wages. The affidavit, upon which the attachment was issued, is not set forth in the record; but it is admitted that it was regular, and according to the requirements of the law.
The first point of insistence is, that the plaintiff is not entitled to the lien, because it is not shown that there was an express contract. The statute declares; “Agricultural laborers, and superintendents of plantations, shall have a lien
Tbe plaintiff, having brought suit for work and labor done, and having obtained judgment against tbe defendant in a justice’s court, it is further contended that she thereby waived, or abandoned, her right<k> enforce tbe lien by attachment, and elected to rely on an execution on tbe judgment. Tbe lien is of statutory creation, and depends, not upon tbe levy of an attachment, but upon tbe existence and nature of tbe debt.—Dryer v. Abercrombie, 57 Ala. 497. Attachment is merely tbe remedy provided and given by tbe statute for the enforcement of a pre-existing and operative lien. Of this remedy tbe laborer can not avail himself, unless some one of tbe grounds for tbe issue of an attachment for tbe enforcement of sucb liens exists — unless tbe defendant, without tbe consent of, and contrary to bis agreement with plaintiff, has removed, or is about to remove tbe crop, or some portion thereof, from tbe premises, without paying plaintiff’s demand. — Code, § 3081. Though tbe laborer can not enforce bis lien, because of tbe non-existence of tbe grounds on wbicb tbe issue of an attachment is authorized, be may, when his claim matures, pursue tbe proper .common-law remedy for tbe recovery of bis debt. Notwithstanding tbe debt is merged into tbe judgment, and its existence and amount conclusively established, its nature is not destroyed, nor affected. Its character remains tbe same — bire or wages
The motion to dissolve should not have been granted.
Reversed and remanded.