Patterson v. Rabb

Citations

• 38 S.C. 138
• 17 S.E. 463
• 1893 S.C. LEXIS 94

Syllabus

<p>1. Status Quo — Purchaser.—P. purchased a mortgage on a tract of land from the mortgagee, who afterwards acquired title to this land. R. then brought action against the owner for recovery of this land, and filed lis pendens. Still later, P. brought action against the owner, to foreclose his mortgage, and, under a decree for foreclosure, purchased and obtained possession. Finally, R. was adjudged entitled to the land, and the sheriff was directed to put her into possession. In action then instituted by P. against R. (which was the first action to which both were parties), the Circuit Judge did not err in restraining the sheriff from proceeding, under the order to put R. into possession, until this case was determined.</p> <p>2. A Finding op Fact by, the Circuit Judge, unsupported by any testimony, reversed.</p> <p>3. Mortgages — Evidences op Dert. — In this State, a mortgage is a mere security for a debt; and notes, bonds, and mortgages are evidences of the debt, but not the debt itself.</p> <p>4. Assignee op Mortgage — Equity op Third Person. — The statutes and decisions of this State recognize a well marked distinction, in the rights of assignees, between negotiable instruments and those which are not negotiable. Bonds and mortgages are choses in action, and the assignees thereof are not protected by the equity of purchasers for valuable consideration without notice. Therefore, the bona fide assignee of a bond and mortgage, without notice of an outstanding claim by a third person to the subject of the mortgage, of which claim the mortgagee and assignor (the former legal owner of the land) had notice, cannot set up such mortgage to defeat the claim of such third person. Cases reviewed.</p> <p>5. Equity — Cancellation of Plaintiff’s Deed. — Plaintiff, who held a title deed to a tract of land, having failed, on the merits, in his action to restrain defendant from interfering with plaintiff’s possession, and defendant’s title being confirmed, the court directed the