Case Name: DEN on demise of BOWEN v. M'CULLOUGH
Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Decision Date: 1818-01
Citations: 1 Taylor 261
Docket Number: 
Parties: DEN on demise of BOWEN v. M'CULLOUGH.
Judges: 
Reporter: North Carolina Reports
Volume: 4
Pages: 261–263

Head Matter:
DEN on demise of BOWEN v. M'CULLOUGH.
This was an action of Ejectment brought for the recovery of a lot in Washington, described in the Plaintiff ⅛ declaration. The lot was admitted to have been the pertyof Dr. Tennant Bowen. At December Term, 1801. a judgment was rendered in behalf of the United States, in the United States’ District Court for the District of Pamplico, against the said Tennant Bowen.; on which judgment a writ off. fa. against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the said Tennant Bowen, was r sued from the same term or said Court, and returned levied on sundry Negroes ; writs of venditioni exponas continued to issue from term to term until February Term, 1809, when the said Negroes were sold for a sum less than the amount of .the said Judgment. From the October Term, 1809, of said Court, there issued on said Judgment a second fi.fa. against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the said Tennant Bowen, under which .there was a levy on the lot in dispute, and the same was ¡exposed to sale, and the Defendant became the purchaser, to whom the Marshall executed a regular conveyance. Tennant Bowen died in the year 1803 or 1804, leaying a last will duly executed, to convey lands, by which will the premises in dispute'were devised to the lessor of the Plaintiff*
pkc-underjj bore <<wíeaf-0f the perso| wll0-died ses-zed, wjthoi.it any *⅛/⅛. ad-feira or devi-, sucl* sale coiivey-edno title te PWcb?*

Opinion:
Huitín,, j.
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The United States recovered a judgment against Soxveri, on which a f.fa¿ issued, was levied on certain slaves and returned. Bo-wen then made his will, and thereby devised the premises in dispute to the lessor of the Plaintiff, and died. After his death, several writs of 'venditioni exponas were issued to compel a sale of the slaves before levied on, under one of which they were finally sold, sortie years after T. Bowen's death, but did not satisfy the debt¿ Whereupon a newfi.fa. against the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of T. Bowen, the testator, was Sued out and levied on the lot in question, which was sold, and the Defendant purchased and entered. The question is, Was that sale a good one, so as t© pass the title to the Defendant ?
Without considering the operation of a judgment upon lands in this State, or deciding whether it binds from the time,of the Judgment, or whether lands are only bound from the teste of the execution ; but assuming the law to be either wat7, this case seems to me to be against the Defendant. if the former, and our fi* fa* is to have the Operation of the etegit, then a sei.fa. was necessary, and is the only way by which the Plaintiffs could have execu* tion of the lands. And a sale without a sti fa. is void, so that the heir can maintain his action against him who enters under it. On the other hand, if lands are bound in the hands of the heir by the fi. fa. as goods are by that writ in the hands of the executor, then, although they might have been sold after the death of the testator, upon a Writ tested on a day previous to his death, they cannot be sold in any other case, unless the Judgment be first revived by sci. fa-. As to a sale under a venditioni expo-nas•, that stands on different grounds. That writ is not jo authorise, but to compel a sale of property, previously in custodia legis As this fi. fa. therefore issued, and bears teste lona; after T. BoiverPs death, and has no tion to a day antecedent to that event, it passed no title whatsoever, and Judgment must be entered for the Plaintiff.
Rep. 12, 2 Saun 6 n. 1, & the authorities there cited
Fitz N. B. 597, 598, D.
Baker v. Long, 1 Hay Rep. 1, Heapy v. Paris 6 T. Rep. 639, Bragner v. Longmead 7 T. R. 20.
Cro Jac. 73 1 Ves. 196.