Hall v. Shannon

• Decision Date: 30 June 1877
• Citation: 85 Ill. 473,1877 WL 9592
• Parties: JAMES HALLv.ALBERT R. SHANNON et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

85 Ill. 473

1877 WL 9592 (Ill.)

JAMES HALL

v.ALBERT R. SHANNON et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June Term, 1877.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Wabash county; the Hon. TAZEWELL B. TANNER, Judge, presiding.

Mr. S. Z. LANDES, for the appellant.

Messrs. BELL & GREEN, for the appellees.

Mr. JUSTICE CRAIG delivered the opinion of the Court:

This cause was before us at the June term, 1874, when the decree of the circuit court dismissing the bill was reversed, and the cause remanded for another trial. Since that decision another hearing was had in the circuit court, which resulted in a decree in favor of complainants, conformable to the opinion of the court.

When the case was previously before us, it was held that where a mortgagee places his mortgage upon record, his rights under it are fixed, and it is notice for all time, and the destruction of the record books does not extinguish or destroy such notice, and the mortgagee was entitled to foreclose his mortgage as against a purchaser from the mortgagor, although such purchaser had no actual knowledge of the existence of the mortgage. See Shannon v. Hall, 72 Ill. 354. The views expressed in the case cited were in harmony with prior decisions of this court, where similar questions have been presented, and the same doctrine has been announced in subsequent cases. Alvis et al. v. Morrison, 63 Ill. 181; Steele v. Boone, 75 Ill. 457; Gammon v. Hodges, 73 Ill. 140.

But it is insisted, on behalf of appellant, that this record contains two features which clearly distinguish it from the record upon which the former decision was made, and upon that account the decree of the circuit court is erroneous.

The first new feature in the record supposed to take the case out of the operation of the former decision is, that it was proved, or offered to be proved, by Hall, that when he purchased of Page he made diligent inquiry of him as to the title, and was informed that the title was perfect and unincumbered, and that he, Page, had owned the property and paid taxes thereon for twenty-eight years. The other additional fact appears in the stipulation, and was in evidence, and is to the effect that Page had occupied the mortgaged premises, from a short time before the date of the mortgage until 1850, as a homestead, and that his tenants had occupied the same as a residence, continuously, from that time until Page conveyed to Hall, Oct. 19, 1864.

We will not stop to determine whether Hall's evidence, under the statute, was admissible as against complainants, who sued as executors, but we will treat the evidence as having been admitted and considered by the court; but, after giving this evidence all that weight which it is entitled to receive, and at the same...