Case Name: John T. Green, Sheriff, plaintiff in error, vs. Benjamin H. Jones, defendant in error
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1869-06
Citations: 39 Ga. 521
Docket Number: 
Parties: John T. Green, Sheriff, plaintiff in error, vs. Benjamin H. Jones, defendant in error.
Judges: Brown, C. J., concurred, but furnished no opinion.
Reporter: Georgia Reports
Volume: 39
Pages: 521–524

Head Matter:
John T. Green, Sheriff, plaintiff in error, vs. Benjamin H. Jones, defendant in error.
The Sheriff had a fi. fa., founded upon a mortgage upon land, made in March, 1861, and though ho had time to do so, failed to make the money upon it, because a third person had been in possession of the land since August, 1861, and had had it assigned and set apart as his homestead, and the Sheriff’s attorney advised him that he ought not to levy upon the land: The Court below erred in making the
Sheriff pay thefi. fa. Warner, J., dissenting.
Eule against Sheriff. Before Judge Habbell. Early Superior Court. April Term, 1869.
In March, 1861, Eowe mortgaged laud to Jones to secure his note, due in January, 1862. The mortgage was foreclosed, and the fi. fa. delivered to the sheriff in time, for him to have made the money by said term. He did not make it, and Jones ruled him. In August, 1861, one Knight took possession of said land, ever since has had possession of it, and has recently had it set apart as a homestead for his, Knight’s, wife and children. The sheriff had notice of this, and was advised by his counsel not to levy on said land, because of said homestead having been so assigned. The sheriff giving no other excuse for not having the money, the Court ordered him to pay Jones the amount of his Ji. fa. This is assigned as error.
Thomas F. Jones, H. Fielder, for plaintiff in error.
A. Hood, for defendant.

Opinion:
McCay, J.
"We do not think the facts set forth by the sheriff in his answer are such as to show that he would have been a trespasser had ho made tire levy, as required by the plaintiff. But we do think that, under all the'circumstances, the judgment of the Court requiring him to pay the debt is unwarrantable. The sheriff evidently acted in good faith. He consulted a respectable attorney, and, as everybody knows, the true construction of the Homestead Law was a question of great doubt. As a matter of course, a sheriff must act at his peril, and if the plaintiff is damaged by his failure to judge rightly, he, the sheriff, must bear the loss. But here was no loss. The land is still there, as subject as it ever was. Had the property been movable, so that it might have been gotten out of the way, we would presume, perhaps, in favor of the judgment that this was the case; but in no event could the plaintiff be injured here except by the delay. In effect this was a proceeding for the benefit of the plaintiff He has no claim except for the damages caused him by the sheriff. By the judgment of the Court he gets his money, the fi. fa. is satisfied, and the sheriff loses the whole. Had it not been apparent that the sheriff acted in good faith we should not feel disposed to interfere. He ought, in case of want of good faith, to be punished, and we would not enquire closely into the mode taken by the Court to punish him. Under the judgment, the plaintiffj who is not hurt by the sheriff's action, gets his whole debt, and the sheriff, who is not really guilty of contempt, but only of mistake, has it to pay and lose it.
We think this is too harsh a proceeding for an honest mistake which has injured no one, and we reverse the judgment.
Brown, C. J., concurred, but furnished no opinion.