Dicus v. Halls

• Decision Date: 16 December 1887
• Citation: 3 So. 239,83 Ala. 159
• Parties: DICUS v. HALLS AND OTHERS.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

3 So. 239

83 Ala. 159

DICUS v. HALLS AND OTHERS.

Supreme Court of Alabama

December 16, 1887

Appeal from circuit court, Jackson county; JOHN B. TULLY, Judge.

Halls Hooper & Co., plaintiffs, had sued Anderson Dicus, defendant and obtained judgment and levied on property which he claimed as a homestead exemption. Judgment was rendered for Halls Hooper & Co., and Dicus appealed.

D W. Speake, for appellant.

J. E. Brown, contra.

STONE C.J.

Dicus, the appellant, had owned and occupied as a residence a small tract of land, some 57 acres, upon which he had some 25 acres cleared and in cultivation. He had occupied it as a home for more than 20 years. Several years before the debt was incurred under which these proceedings were had, he purchased an additional 80 acres of land, separated from the former by an intervening tract 600 yards wide. On this latter purchased tract he had some 20 acres cleared, and had on it stables in a crib. From the tract last purchased he obtained timber and firewood for the home place proper, and the two places were cultivated in common, and he drew his sustenance and home supplies alike from each place. On the 80-acre tract there was a tenant house, and he sometimes rented a part of it to tenants, working on shares; the tenant and Dicus' hands working the lands together, and not separately. The two tracts were worth much less than $2,000. In 1884 Dicus incurred a debt, less in amount than $100. This debt was put in judgment before a justice of the peace, and, under execution issued upon it, the constable levied on the 80 acres of land, "for want of personal property to satisfy the execution." Dicus interposed his claim of homestead exemption. The question was raised in the circuit court, in opposition to a motion made there for an order to sell the land, that the property was part of the homestead, and, as such, exempt from levy and sale.

Our statute (Code 1876, § 2820) exempts from levy and sale, etc "the homestead of every resident of this state, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land, and not exceeding two thousand dollars in value, and the appurtenances thereon, owned and occupied by such resident." There is no other qualification, except that it shall not be "in any city, town, or village." A different provision is made for the residents of cities, towns, and villages. This is the first time this question has come before us. In Perkins v, Quigley, 62 Mo. 498, speaking of...