Crafts v. Daugherty

Citations

• 69 Tex. 477
• 6 S.W. 850
• 1888 Tex. LEXIS 882

Syllabus

<p>1. Vendor and Vendee. — When land is sold to be paid for at a future time, and a deed is executed to the vendee who executes to the vendor a mortgage to secure payment of purchase money, the legal title remains with the vendor until the land is paid for. If before payment the vendor executes a deed of conveyance for the same land to a third party, and transfers to him the unpaid notes of the first purchaser, such party is subrogated to the rights of the vendor under the mortgage, and being in possession, may in a suit by the first purchaser in trespass to try title-show under the plea of not guilty, that the original purchase money remains unpaid and defeat a recovery either of the land or the possession. The fact that the deed executed by the vendor to the second purchaser was made in consummating an attempted sale under the mortgage not authorized by its terms, is immaterial.</p> <p>8. Certified Copies — Evidence.—A certified copy of a deed is not admissible in evidence on mere proof that the party offering it had caused it to be attached to a commission to take testimony and sent to the clerk of another county who had not returned the same, although requested to do so by letters written by the party and by others. Such evidence does not establish the fact that the deed could not have been procured by the exercise of reasonable diligence.</p>