Coggeshall v. Ruggles

Citations

• 62 Ill. 401

Syllabus

<p>1. Principal and surety. Where a surety pays the debt of his principal for less than its face, he will be restricted in his recovery from the principal to the sum actually paid.</p> <p>2. Same—change of relation,. A, as principal, and B, as surety, being indebted in the sum of three hundred dollars by their joint note, some time afterward B, becoming apprehensive of the inability of A to pay the same, purchased certain property of the latter, in part payment of which he agreed to assume and pay three hundred dollars on the note, which he failed to do, and judgment was obtained on the note against both: Held, that by this arrangement B became the principal debtor, as between himself and it, as to three hundred dollars and interest, in the judgment, and that he could not change such relation afterward without A’s consent, by crediting the price of the property upon an indebtedness of A to him and his partner in trade.</p> <p>3. Judgment—rights of joint debtor satisfying. One of two judgment debtors, though surety for the other, can not, after payment in fact by him of the judgment, by arrangement with the creditor holding the same to keep it in apparent life, manage to sell the lands of his co-defendant, and thereby acquire and retain a title to the same. While a court of equity will not treat an execution issued thereon as a nullity, yet if such party, so controlling the judgment after such payment, procures a sale of his co-defendant’s lands, on execution under the same, and the transfer of the certificate of purchase to his son, it will treat the certificate as a mere security for the money advanced, and which he is entitled to recover of the principal debtor.</p> <p>4. Setting aside sale on execution—innocent purchaser. Where land was sold at sheriff’s sale, on execution, under such circumstances that the judgment debtor, in equity, has the right to have the sale set aside as against the purchaser, and the purchaser assigns the certificate of purchase to a part