Westmoreland v. Wooten

Citations

• 51 Miss. 825

Syllabus

<p>1. Landlord and Tenant: Lien thereof. Acts of 1872 and 1873.</p> <p>These acts of the legislature give a lien to the landlord on the cotton produced by his tenants for his payment, but do not give the landlord a right of action against the purchase of the cotton for its value. These acts furnish the means of enforcing the lien, and make it penal to remove any part of the crop until it is discharged.</p> <p>2. Same : Nature of the lien.</p> <p>A lien is the right to resort to the thing on which it operates, and cotton subject to such lien may be followed and seized, just as property liable to a judgment lien may be; but the purchaser of such cotton is not liable for its value, any more than one who obtains and . disposes of property subject to a judgment lien is liable. A landlord has no right of property in the cotton raised by his tenants. He has a claim which entitles him to seize it in a particular mode provided by the act, but he cannot maintain trover or assumpsit against the purchaser.</p> <p>Note. — Whether one who colludes fraudulently with a tenant to aid him in defeating the lien of the landlord by a sale and removal of the product subject to the lien could be held responsible, at the appropriate suit of the landlord, for the injury he sustains, is not decided.</p>