Case Name: John I. Burrow et al. vs. William Smith et al.
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Tennessee
Decision Date: 1855-04
Citations: 2 Sneed 566
Docket Number: 
Parties: John I. Burrow et al. vs. William Smith et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Tennessee Reports
Volume: 34
Pages: 566–569

Head Matter:
John I. Burrow et al. vs. William Smith et al.
Chancery. Fraudulent conveyance. Assignment of plat and certificate. Trustee. Tha complainants’ ancestor recovered a judgment against one of the defendants, before a justice of the peace, and there being no personal property, the execution was levied upon an entry made by the judgment debtor : he, soon after the judgment, and before the levy, had fraudulently assigned the plat and certificate to his son, who in like manner assigned the same to his two sisters, in whose name, before the levy, a grant had been obtained. After the levy and order of sale, the grantees sold to another defendant, all parties having notice of the facts. The land was thereupon sold by virtue of the execution and order of sale, and purchased by the complainants’ ancestor, whose judgment, interest and costs were thereby discharged. He thereupon filed his bill to have his title perfected, but dying before the termination of the suit, it was revived in the names of the present complainants, his heirs. To this bill all the parties were made defendants, some of whom answered and as to others orders pro confesso were taken. Held, that the ancestor by his purchase, acquired an equitable title, and having died since the same, the purchaser from the grantees holds the legal title as trustee to the complainants, to whom the land should be decreed.
FROM GIBSON.
This bill was filed in chancery, at Trenton. At the January term, 1854, there was a decree by Chancellor Jones, in favor of complainants, from which defendants appealed.
M. & H. Beown, for the complainants.
S. Williams, for the defendants.

Opinion:
A Weight, Special J.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
The bill in this case alleges, that on the 5th of An- gust, 1846, Banks M. Burrow, the ancestor of the present complainants, recovered two judgments against William Smith, before a justice of the peace of Gibson county: that on the 6th of November, 1847, executions were issued on said judgments, and placed in the hands of a constable of said county, and that not being able to find personal property of the defendant in the executions on which to levy the same, he made return of that fact, and levied said executions on a tract of 115 acres of land lying in said county, on the waters of the South fork of Obion river, in range two, district four, as the property of said William Smith: that on the 6th of March' 1848, the proceedings in said causes before the justice of the peace having been returned to the circuit court of said county, the said court condemned said land to be sold to pay said judgments; and that afterwards, in July, 1848, orders of sale or writs of venditioni exponas, founded on said judgments of condemnation were duly issued and placed in the hands of the sheriff of said county, who sold said land, after lawful notice on the 2d of October, 1848, when the same was purchased by the said Banks M. Burrow, and his debts, interest and costs satisfied in the purchase. That said Smith, after having entered the said land in his name, and being thus its true owner, made a fraudulent assignment of the plat and certificate of survey to his son, to hinder and delay said Banks M. Burrow in the collection of his judgments; and that this son, for the like fraudulent purpose, assigned the same to Sarah and Malinda Smith, daughters of William Smith, and that Sarah and Malinda Smith had obtained a grant for said land in their names, and on the 26th of July, 1848, after the making of said levies and orders of sale,, had sold his land to the defendant, Carroll, who had notice of said judgments and levies, and purchased said land fraudulently. The bill prays that the legal title to said land be divested out of said Carroll, and vested in complainants.
The bill is taken for confessed as to William Smith,, and Sarah and Malinda Smith, and as to Charles Smith, the son; and the answer of Carroll, the only other defendant, does not controvert the judgment, levies, orders of sale, and the purchase of the land by Banks M. Burrow; but in effect, admits them. And we are satisfied from the answer and the proof in the cause, that sometime in the year 1846, the land was entered in the name of William Smith, and that the assignment afterwards made to his son Charles, and his daughters, Sarah and Malinda, were fraudulent and void, as to his creditors. It appears that the grant to Sarah and Malinda Smith issued a few days before the levies were made; but as the law makes entries subject to levy and sale for the payment of debts, this fact can be of no avail to defendants. The fraudulent transfer being void as to Banks M. Burrow, the creditor, left the land still subject to levy and sale, as the property of William Smith.
It further appears, that defendant, Carroll, in fact purchased the land of Sarah and Malinda Smith, in July, 1848, after said levies had been made, and the orders of sale obtained; and we are satisfied from his answer and the proof in the cause, that he, at the time of his purchase, had actual notice of the levies; and besides, his answer does not put him in the po sition of an innocent purchaser, if such a thing could be in such case. We are therefore of opinion, that Banks M. Burrow, in the purchase of this land, acquired an equitable title to it, that defendant, Carroll, holds the legal title as trustee to complainants. Banks M. Burrow having died since the purchase, and that it must be decreed to complainants. It is insisted, that Carroll's purchase, only embraces a small part of the tract of land included in the levies — but the answer makes no such question, and in effect admits that his purchase covers the same land that was levied on; and we are satisfied from the proof that it is so.
The decree of the chancellor is affirmed.