Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/161/104.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 10:59:40+00:00

Document:
'Received in office January 23d, 1877.
'Geo. Turner, U. S. Marshal.
'2d. The tract of land known as 'Montgomery Race Track,' near Montgomery, containing 80 acres, more or less.
'Notice in writing given the defendant.
'Returned for alias; not advertised and sold, for want of time. April 6th, 1877.
There was also indorsed on each writ, 'Received in office May 10th, 1877;' and a levy, May 10, 1877, which included said tract of land.
Plaintiffs then introduced in evidence a deed of the United States marshal to the United States, dated July 2, 1877, and duly acknowledged and recorded, reciting the levy of execution on the property, and the sale thereof on that date, after due advertisement, to the United States, as the highest and best bidder, and conveying all Beebe's interest in the tract.
Plaintiffs objected to the introduction of this deed in evidence on the grounds, among others, that it 'is void upon its face,' and that it 'sets up no claim superior to the title of the United States acquired at the execution sale.' Beebe was then sworn as a witness, and defendants proposed to prove by him that, at the time of the execution of the deed offered in evidence, Beebe and Henshaw were in copartnership; that at that date the partnership was indebted to various persons in amounts aggregating $40,000, and Beebe was indebted to Henshaw about $2,000 individually, and also about the same sum on account of partnership matters; that the property was purchased while Beebe and Henshaw were partners, and was purchased with partnership assets; that the deed had been delivered to and accepted by Henshaw. But defendants admitted that Henshaw had never sold any of the property conveyed by the deed, and that nothing had been done thereunder. The court sustained plaintiffs' objection to the introduction of the deed, and refused to allow the same to be read in evidence, and defendants excepted. [161 U.S. 104, 108] Thereupon plaintiffs offered in evidence a deed by Henshaw to Beebe, dated February 23, 1878, which recited that the debts and business affairs of the partnership had been fully settled, without the necessity of having to sell any of the property for that purpose, and therefore Henshaw reconveyed to Beebe an undivided one-half interest in and to the property. In that connection defendants 'proved' (offered to prove) that after March 22, 1877, Henshaw became incapable of attending to business; and that thereupon Beebe procured Henshaw to execute the deed of February 23, 1878, at which time the debts and business affairs of the partnership had not, in fact, been settled and paid.
The following errors were assigned: '(1) The rejection of the deed executed by the plaintiff in error Eugene Beebe to Ferrie Henshaw on the 22d day of March, 1877, offered in evidence by the plaintiffs in error, conveying to said Henshaw the property involved in this cause. (2) The rejection of said deed offered in evidence by the plaintiffs in error, in connection with the facts the plaintiffs in error proposed to prove by the testimony of the said Eugene Beebe. (3) The rejection of the testimony of said Eugene Beebe, offered by the plaintiffs in error in connection with said deed, and to support the same. (4) The charge of the court to the jury, 'that if they believed the evidence the plaintiff was entitled to recover the land sued for in this cause."
H. C. Tompkins, for plaintiffs in error.
Asst. Atty. Gen. Dickenson, for defendant in error.
Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court. [161 U.S. 104, 109] The exception saved by defendants was to the refusal of the court to admit the deed of March 22, 1877, in evidence, and the first three errors assigned may be considered together.
It is the settled law of Alabama that a judgment in itself imposes no lien upon the property of the judgment debtor, real or personal, but that the issue of an execution, and its delivery to the officer, are necessary to create a lien. Dane v. McArthur, 57 Ala. 448; Carlisle v. Godwin, 68 Ala. 137; Perkins v. Brierfield Co., 77 Ala. 409.
Under section 2871 of the Code of Alabama of 1867, applicable here, executions could be levied on real property to which the defendant had a legal right, or a perfect equity, having paid the purchase money, or in which he had a vested legal interest, in possession, reversion, or remainder, whether he had the entire estate, or was entitled to it in common with others; on personal property of the defendant; on an equity of redemption in land or personal property.
Defendants conceded legal title in Beebe, but by way of answering the objection to the instrument of March 22, 1877, as on its face lacking in good faith, evidence was tendered to show that the real estate was purchased with partnership funds, though not for partnership purposes. Hatchett v. Blanton, 72 Ala. 423, 435; Pars. Partn. *365.
The evidence in this regard, such as it was, was offered in connection with the question of the admissibility of the deed of March 22, 1877, and the action of the court to which an exception was saved was solely to the refusal to permit that deed to be introduced. [161 U.S. 104, 110] If valid executions were issued and delivered to the marshal as early as January 23, 1877, and, on return, alias executions were issued and duly levied, then the subsequent sale related back, and took the legal title out of Beebe, prior to March 22, 1877; so that the deed of the latter date was immaterial, and there was no error in refusing to admit it.
It is argued that the only executions shown by the record to have been issued on the judgments were those of May 10, 1877, but we do not think so. The executions of that date were alias writs, and the presumption is that they were preceded by others regularly issued. Sellers v. Hayes, 17 Ala. 749; Pollard v. Cocke, 19 Ala. 188. But the fact did not rest upon presumption, for these writs bore the indorsement of the receipt by the marshal, January 23, 1877, of the previous writs; their levy on the property in question, April 5, 1877; and their return, April 6, 1877, for want of time to advertise the sale. And the return of the marshal, covering the date of the receipt and the levy of the prior writs, was duly indorsed upon the alias writs, and certified to by the clerk of the court under his hand and seal. All this was admitted in evidence without objection, and, if defendants desired to raise the objection that the original executions ought to be produced, they should have done so then, when, if well founded, the objection could have been removed.
The Code of 1867 provided that the clerk should issue executions as soon after the adjournment of the court as practicable, within the time prescribed, namely, if the session was 1 week, within 10 days; if 2 weeks, within 15 days; if 3 or more weeks, within 20 days. The day, month, and year of its receipt was required to be indorsed thereon; return to be made 3 days before the first day of the return term, which was the next term after its date, unless issued less than 15 days before court, and then the term next thereafter; and the reason for its nonexecution in whole or in part was required to be stated in the return. Sections 2838, 2839, 2851- 2854.
'Sec. 2872. A writ of fieri facias is a lien, only within the [161 U.S. 104, 111] county in which it is received by the officer, on the land and personal property of the defendant, subject to levy and sale from the time only that the writ is received by the sheriff; which lien continues as long as the writ is regularly issued and delivered to the sheriff without the lapse of an entire term.
The regular terms of the circuit court of the United States for the Middle district of Alabama began on the first Monday of November, 1876, and the first Monday of May, 1877; and these writs were issued, delivered, and levied without the lapse of an entire term, as specified in the statute. Carlisle v. May, 75 Ala. 502. According to the settled rule in Alabama, where an execution comes to the hands of the sheriff, the lien attaches, and continues from term to term, provided alias and pluries writs are duly issued and delivered; and while it is so kept alive the lien is, upon levy and sale, paramount to any intermediate conveyance of the debtor. Parks v. Coffee, 52 Ala. 32; Hendon v. White, Id. 597; Childs v. Jones, 60 Ala. 352; Perkins v. Brierfield Co., 77 Ala. 403, 410; Massingill v. Downs, 7 How. 760, 767.
Certainly, this sale was none the less valid because there had been a levy of the original writs, and alias executions were issued and levied on the same property.
Assuming that the consent for a stay was given by some one acting for the government, although that does not appear, yet, from the fact that executions were issued before the expiration of the time, the presumption would be reasonable-nothing appearing to the contrary-that they were rightly issued, and that either the agreement lacked consideration, or was not authorized, or had been, by mutual assent, annulled, or that the terms of the agreement had not been complied with by defendants.
The supreme court of Mississippi held, in Jones v. Bailey, 5 How. ( Miss.) 564, where plaintiffs agreed to stay of execution for a certain time, 'unless defendants consent for its [161 U.S. 104, 113] issuance sooner,' and execution was issued without regard to the agreement and property sold, that the presumption was that it issued with the consent of defendants.
The marshal's return on the original writs showed that notice of the levy thereof was given Beebe in writing as required by statute (section 2857), and the fact that he did not complain that the executions had been issued contrary to agreement renders the presumption that they were not obnoxious to that objection well-nigh, if not altogether, unanswerable.
Aside from this, as the executions were in fact issued, and received by the marshal January 23, 1877, the question thus suggested would be whether the executions were voidable, or absolutely void, if the consent for a stay was lawful, and the executions were taken out in violation thereof.
In Steele v. Tutwiler, 68 Ala. 107, 110, the supreme court of Alabama referred to Morgan v. Evans, 72 Ill. 586, which ruled that an execution was not void, but voidable, where it issued on a dormant judgment after the time limited by statute, and Stewart v. Stocker, 13 Serg. & R. 199, where a similar ruling was made in respect of an execution issued on a judgment confessed prematurely, contrary to the terms of a bond, and the court said: 'In all such cases, though the execution may be erroneous and irregular, it must be respected and enforced until vacated by motion to quash, or in some other manner prescribed by law. Freem. Ex'ns, 25. And it is the duty of the party seeking to take advantage of irregularities or defects of this character to move with proper diligence, at the earliest opportunity. Undue laches is treated as a waiver of the right, and operates as an irrevocable renunciation of it. Id. 76, 30. And after a delay of seven years in this case, without explanation or excuse, we think the motion comes too late.' And, to the same effect, see Henderson v. Henderson, 66 Ala. 556, 558. Again, it is held that executions issued contrary to agreement between the parties are subject to the same rules as other premature executions. In Cody v. Quinn, 6 Ired. 193, it was decided that a memorandum made on the docket, with the consent of the parties, by the clerk, 'No fi. fa. to issue until October or until ordered,' was no part of the judgment, and if execution were issued before then it was not void. In Townsend v. Fontenot, 42 La. Ann. 890, 8 South. 616, which was a suit to restrain the execution of a judgment recovered in a suit to enforce payment of certain notes, with recognition of a mortgage and vendor's privilege, the judgment contained the following statement, prepared and written by plaintiff's counsel, and inserted by plaintiff's instructions: 'The attorney of plaintiff in this suit declares he has been instructed not to seize or sell said [161 U.S. 104, 115] property before the end of the year;' and it was held to operate a stay of execution.
But in the case in hand the judgment records are complete and perfect in themselves, and executions were thereby ordered to issue. The entries as to stay purported to be memoranda of an agreement of counsel, were evidently placed where they were as memoranda merely, and did not form part of the judgments. Even if the entries could be treated as the act of the court, and the executions were improperly issued,-which is not to be presumed, under the circumstances disclosed by this record,-they would not have been absolutely void, and incapable of being validated.
So far as appears, Beebe never took any steps to quash the executions or to vacate the levy, if any ground existed for doing so, and the evidence that they issued and were levied was admitted without objection on the trial. We regard the position now taken on his behalf as destitute of merit. The circuit court properly excluded the deed of March 22, 1877, and, this being so, no error was committed in the charge to the jury.
Mr. Justice GRAY, who was not present at the argument, and Mr. Justice PECKHAM, who was not then a member of the court, took no part in the decision.

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