Campbell v. Sloan

Citations

• 21 S.C. 301
• 1884 S.C. LEXIS 95

Syllabus

<p>Executors being sued for a débt of their testatrix, a devisee in possession obtained from his wife the amount due upon the note in suit, and paid it to the attorney's of the payee ; the suit was then dropped, and the note taken by the devisee to his wife with the statement, “This is your property,” but there was no written assignment. After this the husband, with the wife’s knowledge and acquiescence, mortgaged the land acquired under such devise, and she renounced her dower to the mortgagees, who knew nothing of her claim ; after-wards she brought action against the executors on this note, obtained judgment by default, and then sought to subject this land to the payment of this note and to enjoin the foreclosure of such mortgage — meantime the personal assets of testatrix were lost or wasted. Held,</p> <p>1. That the action could not be sustained, because the circumstances showed that the note was not purchased from the payee, but was satisfied by the husband with money given to him by the wife for that purpose.</p> <p>2. That twenty years having elapsed from the last credit endorsed upon the note to the commencement of plaintiff’s action against the executors, her right to bring this action was barred by lapse of time.</p> <p>3. That the laches of plaintiff, and that of the original payee, were sufficient to bar this action.</p> <p>4. That by renouncing dower on the mortgage, she is estopped from setting up her stale claim against the mortgagees.</p>