McAlister v. Tucker

Citation87 S.E. 1000,103 S.C. 204
Decision Date26 February 1916
Docket Number9267.
PartiesMCALISTER v. TUCKER.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of South Carolina

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Anderson County; Frank B Gary, Judge.

Action by Jesse M. McAlister against W. H. Tucker. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and new trial granted.

Bonham Watkins & Allen, of Anderson, for appellant.

A. H Dagnall, of Anderson, for respondent.

WATTS J.

This was an action by plaintiff against defendant to recover possession of certain seed cotton of the alleged values of $425, which had been seized under a distress warrant for rent alleged to be due for 1913, and also for $1,575 punitive damages for alleged unlawful and wrongful taking of the property. The case was heard by Hon. Frank B. Gary and a jury at March, 1915, term of court for Anderson county, and resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the property in dispute, or the value thereof $425 in case a delivery cannot be had. A motion for new trial was made and refused, and defendant appealed, and by ten exceptions alleges error on the part of the trial judge. At the hearing of the cause appellant's counsel by his argument conceded that there was but one material question made by them in the exceptions, and that it is that the presiding judge erred when the jury came into court and asked if it was necessary that a fixed day be named for the payment of rent, in not instructing them that it was not necessary that a fixed definite day be named. We think that this exception should be sustained. The jury, after considering the case, came back into court and asked his honor "whether there must be a fixed day for the payment of rent," and were entitled to the instruction of the court in answer to the question. He should have told them that, in the absence of a definite time fixed in the contract for rent, then, when the crop matures or is ready to market, the rent becomes due. The law of this state gives a landlord a lien on all crops grown on the rented land for rent, and, as the crops, such as oats, corn, and cotton, mature and are in a condition to be prepared for marketing or selling, then the landlord's rent becomes due and payable in the absence of any definite fixed time agreed upon for payment. His honor's failure to instruct the jury in response to questions asked by them was prejudicial to the defendant, and there must be a new trial.

New trial granted....

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