Hardenburg v. Beecher

• Decision Date: 02 October 1883
• Citation: 104 Pa. 20
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Parties: Hardenburg <I>v.</I> Beecher.

Page 20

104 Pa. 20

Hardenburg v. Beecher.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

May 24, 1883.

October 2, 1883.

May 24th 1883.

Before MERCUR, C. J., GORDON, TRUNKEY, STERRETT, GREEN and CLARK, JJ. PAXSON, J., absent

ERROR to the Court of Common Pleas of Warren County: Of January Term 1883, No. 382.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Wilbur (Schnur with him), for the plaintiffs in error.

R. Brown, for the defendant in error.—The oil, when raised from the ground, by its flow, became personalty; it was severed from the freehold, and could be sold by the debtor in the usual way, like lumber, fire-wood, coal, &c. If the debtor can sell and pass his title, the sheriff can accomplish the same object through the medium of a levy and sale by virtue of an execution.

Mr. Justice CLARK delivered the opinion of the court October 2d 1883.

A purchaser at a sheriff's sale, before his deed has been acknowledged, has an inceptive interest in the land: Morrison v. Wurtz, 7 Watts 437; such an interest as will be bound by a judgment: Robb v. Mann, 1 Jones 300. The subsequent acknowledgment and delivery of the sheriff's conveyance inures to the benefit of lien creditors, and, as in the case of a private individual sale, the incumbrancer by relation has the benefit of his security to the extent of the whole estate; such an estate is attended with the ordinary consequences of sale by an individual: Hawk v. Stouch, 5 S. & R. 161; Stephen's App., 8 W. & S, 188; Slater's App., 4 Casey 170. The title acquired under the sheriff's deed relates back to the time of the sale, not merely to the date of the deed: Hoyt v. Koons, 7 Harris 277; but not so as to wholly divest the legal ownership of the debtor, who, until the acknowledgment of the deed, is entitled to the possession, with all its attendant advantages: Garrett v. Dewart, 7 Wr. 342. A judgment entered against the debtor after the day of sale is not a lien upon the land, although the deed to the purchaser was not acknowledged until a subsequent time: Hahn v. Rhoads, 1 P. & W. 484.

It follows as the result of all these cases, that if the deed be subsequently acknowledged, the vendee has such inceptive title by his mere purchase as will be bound by the lien of a judgment, whilst the debtor has no such title remaining as will support a lien; if, however, the acknowledgment be refused, the vendee's contract is rescinded, and the debtor's title remains as if no sale had been made.

The debtor is, however, entitled to the possession until the acknowledgment; the purchaser has by his mere purchase acquired no title to the present enjoyment. This right to possession carries with it its attendant advantages, the right to the growing crops as they may mature; the right to an ordinary use of a mine or quarry, or to the flow from an oil well. The debtor will not be allowed to commit waste or destruction of the premises. The sheriff's vendee is, therefore, only entitled to the growing grain, to the use of mine or...