Case Title: Crane v. Pringle

Citation: 378 So. 2d 721

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1979-12-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
378 So. 2d 721 (1979)
William B. CRANE
v.
Howard F. PRINGLE, Jr.
78-579.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 21, 1979.
*722 James E. Smith of Johnstone, Adams, May, Howard & Hill, Mobile, for appellant.
William H. McDermott of McDermott, Slepian, Windom & Reed, Mobile, for appellee.
BLOODWORTH, Justice.
This appeal is from orders of the trial court setting aside plaintiff-appellant's summary judgment and subsequently entering summary judgment for defendant-appellee. We affirm.
On March 5, 1969, appellee executed a promissory note to the order of The First National Bank of Mobile. The note was a standard, preprinted form used by the Bank with "(SEAL)" preprinted opposite the signature line. The note was negotiated to appellant January 21, 1970. Appellee had made no payments of principal or interest on the note during the six years preceding appellant's filing an action on the instrument November 27, 1978. Appellee pleaded the six-year statute of limitations and denied that appellant was a holder in due course. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the court initially granted summary judgment for appellant. After appellee filed a motion for reconsideration, the court granted summary judgment for appellee and dismissed the case.
The issue presented is whether the ten-year statute of limitations for sealed instruments controls. If not, the six-year statute applies, and the appellee's plea is good. Appellant contends that the instrument facially imports sealing and that appellee adopted the character "(SEAL)" when he signed the note. Appellee contends that an intention to create a sealed instrument must be embraced in the body of the instrument regardless of whether the character "(SEAL)" appears opposite the signature line.
The first Alabama case to address the question of sealed instruments was Lee v. Adkins, Minor 187 (1824). In that case Adkins executed a note evidencing a debt to one Baird, and signed before the character "(Seal.)" written in scroll. There was no expression in the body of the instrument denoting that it was sealed. A majority of this Court held that it was not a sealed instrument, reasoning:
Minor at 192, 193.
In 1839, the predecessor to Code 1975, § 35-4-22 was passed. As enacted, it stated:
"`That all covenants, conveyances, and all contracts in writing, which import on their face to be made under seal, shall be taken, deemed and held to be sealed instruments, and shall have the same effect *723 as if the seal of the party or parties were affixed thereto, whether there be a scroll to the name of such party or parties or not.'"
Carter and Carter v. Penn, 4 Ala. 140, 141 (1842). Construing the statute in Carter and Carter, supra, this Court held:
4 Ala. at 141. This case has been the law of the state and has not been disturbed by subsequent decisions.
Later, in Moore v. Leseur & Wife, 18 Ala. 606 (1851), one Penelope Moore signed a promissory note, placing her signature before the character "(SEAL.)". Again, this Court held:
18 Ala. at 609, 610.
It is clear from the foregoing authorities that the character "(SEAL)," printed opposite the signature line on an instrument, without more, is not sufficient to render it an instrument under seal. There must be an intention on the part of the maker, recited in the body of the instrument, to the effect that the instrument is sealed. No such intention was expressed in the body of the instrument under consideration in the case at bar. The trial court, therefore, did not err in granting appellee's motion for summary judgment.
Having reached the conclusion that the instrument was not under seal, the second issue, namely whether appellant was a holder in due course of the note, is moot.
AFFIRMED.
TORBERT, C. J., FAULKNER and EMBRY, JJ., and TYNER, Retired Circuit Judge, sitting by designation of the Chief Justice, concur.