Pratt v. Godwin

Citations

• 61 Tex. 331
• 1884 Tex. LEXIS 100

Syllabus

<p>1. Mortgage — Trusts. — A pre-emptor, before receiving title to the land embraced in his pre-emption claim, mortgaged it to secure a loan, and title issued from the government to the mortgagee before foreclosure. After-wards the mortgagee conveyed the land by deed to the wife of the mortgagor. In a controversy between parties claiming under the mortgagor and those claiming through the wife, held,</p> <p>(1) ■ The mortgage neither invested the mortgagee with title or right to possession; being but a security for a debt, the inchoate title of the mortgagor remained in him, subject to be divested by foreclosure.</p> <p>(3) The mortgagee could not maintain an action of trespass to try title to recover possession of the property, even if invested with the apparent fee simple title, if the transactions which invested him with it were in fact but constituent parts of a contract, which in its entirety would be construed as being a mortgage. Following Edrington v. Newland, 57 Tex., 637.</p> <p>(3) The issuance of the patent to the mortgagee, though it invested him with the legal title, made him a trustee, holding it for the benefit of the mortgagor, subject to the lien on the land for the satisfaction of the mortgage.</p> <p>(4) The mortgagee acquired no title by the patent which he could convey, except to an innocent purchaser for value, who had no notice of the superior equitable title of the mortgagor.</p> <p>(5) A conveyance by the mortgagee to the wife of the mortgagor, after the issuance of patent to him, conveyed no beneficial interest which divested the property of its community character.</p> <p>2. Independent administration — Probate matters.— Irregularities in proceedings had by husband or wife to qualify the surviving spouse to dispose of the community estate, such as pertain to making out an inventory and appraisement, cannot vitiate a sale of the community property.</p>