McCauley v. Coe

Citations

• 150 Ill. 311
• 37 N.E. 232

Syllabus

<p>1. Moktgage — of leasehold interest. A mere term of years may be mortgaged, and the lien thereby created will be co-extensive with the term, and become extinguished by mere lapse of time whenever the term ends.</p> <p>2. Same — right of mortgagee in an option of mortgagor to purchase. A lessee, under a lease to him of one year, had an option to purchase the demised premises, and during the. term gave a deed of trust on his interest in the same. The lessee and the party secured by the trust deed did not elect to purchase during the term, and failed to exercise the option before the retraction of the same by the lessor: Held, that the trust deed became inoperative as a security, and was a cloud on the title of the lessor and his grantee.</p> <p>3. Same — removing, as a cloud upon the title. Before a deed of trust given by a lessee can be declared a mere cloud upon the title of the lessor or his grantee, and removed as such, no fraud, accident or mistake being alleged, it must appear either that the deed was originally invalid, and ineffectual to convey to or vest in the trustee or his beneficiary any interest, either legal or equitable, in the property, or that by reason of some subsequent event such interest has terminated and ceased to exist, so as to render the deed no longer a valid security upon any interest or equity in the property. But if either of these facts appears, the deed of trust is only an apparent, but not a real, incumbrance, and should be removed from the title of the lessor or his grantee.</p> <p>4. Same — mortgagee’s title — no better than mortgagor’s. While the trustee in a deed of trust, and his beneficiary, acquire a lien upon the legal and equitable rights he] d by the grantor at the time the deed was executed, they will take no rights superior to those of their grantor. The equities to which their lien attaches are subject, in their hands, to the same contingencies, and are liable to extinguishment in the same manner, they would have been