Opinion ID: 2176933
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Equitable Foreclosure in Delaware

Text: Equitable foreclosure under Delaware law is premised upon the doctrines established by the English High Court of Chancery. Fox v. Wharton, 5 Del.Ch. at 213-14, 218; 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware § 1355 (1906). Compare 3 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England -36 (Cooley, 4th ed. 1899); 2 Story, Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence §§ 1018, 1020, 1024-1025; 4 Kent, Commentaries on American Law -196. The Colonial Act of Delaware, for the establishment of courts, vested in the courts of equity established thereby, jurisdiction of all matters and causes of equity, according to the practice of the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain. 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware § 1355 (footnotes and internal quotations omitted). The High Court of Chancery of Great Britain had power to foreclose a mortgage by a bill in equity. Monroe Park v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., Del.Supr., 457 A.2d 734, 735 n. 3 (1983). Thus, the power conferred upon the court of equity by the Colonial Act for the establishment of courts included the power to foreclose mortgages. Id. This power was not withheld by reason of the existence of a prior act providing for the enforcement of mortgages by scire facias. See id.; Fox v. Wharton, 5 Del.Ch. at 227-28. On September 20, 1776, Delaware adopted its first Constitution. Although Delaware was adamant in its desire to be independent of England, its first Constitution expressly provided for a preservation of the legal system which had developed in England even prior to the Magna Charta. [5] Article 25 of the Delaware Constitution of 1776 stated: The common law of England, as well as so much of the statute law as have been heretofore adopted in practice in this state, shall remain in force, unless they shall be altered by a future law of the Legislature; such parts only excepted as are repugnant to the rights and privileges contained in this constitution and the declaration of rights, & c. agreed to by this convention. Del. Const. of 1776, art. 25 (emphasis added). Consequently, the broad equitable powers of the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain, which had been vested in Delaware's courts of equity by the Colonial Act, were explicitly perpetuated by the Delaware Constitution of 1776. Those same equitable powers were conferred upon the Court of Chancery by the Delaware Constitution of 1792. Article VI, Section 14 provided: The equity jurisdiction heretofore exercised by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, shall be separated from the common law jurisdiction, and vested in a Chancellor, who shall hold Courts of Chancery in the several counties of this state. Del. Const. of 1792, art. VI, § 14. See Quillen, Equity Jurisdiction in Delaware Before 1792, 2 Del. Lawyer 18 (Spring 1984). Those broad equitable powers have not been abrogated by any succeeding Delaware Constitution. Fox v. Wharton, 5 Del.Ch. at 218-19; 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware § 1355. In Delaware, in addition to the right of a mortgagee to foreclose a mortgage by bill in equity, there is given to him the additional remedy of enforcing the mortgage by scire facias in a law court. 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware § 1356 (footnote omitted). Between 1726 and 1736, the Colonial authority of Delaware enacted a statute providing for a writ of scire facias sur mortgage. 1 Del.Laws ch. 46, § 5 (current version codified at 10 Del.C. § 5061); Fox v. Wharton, 5 Del.Ch. at 215-17. This statute did not divest the Court of Chancery of its historic jurisdiction to foreclose on mortgages. Fox v. Wharton, 5 Del.Ch. at 218-19. On the contrary, the right to make a judicial decree of foreclosure is inherent in a court of equity, and results from the nature of a mortgage, two essential and necessary characteristics of which are the power to redeem, and the power, judicially, to foreclose. Id. at 219. Accordingly, the history of Delaware's jurisprudence reflects that concurrent jurisdiction in the Court of Chancery over the foreclosure of mortgages has persisted, without interruption or limitation, under the constitutional and statutory law of this State. See Del. Const. art. IV, § 10. See also 10 Del.C. § 371. This Court has consistently recognized that a mortgagee may elect to have a mortgage, which has been executed with the requisite legal formalities, foreclosed either at law by a writ of scire facias sur mortgage in Superior Court, pursuant to 10 Del.C. § 5061, or by a bill in equity filed in the Court of Chancery, pursuant to 10 Del.C. § 371. Monroe Park v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 457 A.2d at 735. See also Stidham v. Brooks, Del.Supr., 5 A.2d 522, 526 (1939); 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware §§ 1355-1356. A mortgagee's right to foreclose a mortgage by a bill in equity is not often used. 2 Woolley, Practice in Civil Actions in Delaware § 1356. However, notwithstanding the generally concurrent jurisdiction previously described, foreclosure of an equitable mortgage is vested exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery. Monroe Park v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 457 A.2d at 736. Therefore, CoreStates properly commenced the action to foreclose upon its unsealed mortgage in the Court of Chancery. See id.