Heath v. Shiver
| Decision Date | 31 March 1887 |
| Citation | 79 Ga. 172 |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Butler& Heath. vs. Shiver et al. |
Homestead. Exemptions. Waiver. Before Judge Bower. Mitchell Superior Court. November Term, 1886.
To the report contained in the decision, it is necessary to add only that this case was submitted to the decision of the presiding judge on both law and facts, and to his judgment, holding the property levied on not subject, a bill of exceptions was filed.
Bush & Twitty, by brief, for plaintiffs in error.
No appearance for defendants.
In the contract creating the debt there was a waiver of all homestead and exemption rights. The debt was reduced to judgment, execution issued, and was levied upon two bales of cotton. This cotton was produced by thedebtor\'s labor whilst he subsisted on provisions which, in the previous year but after the waiver, had been, as may be conceded, duly set apart as exempt. We may assume for present purposes that all was done which Sasser vs. Roberts, 68 Ga.252 (), requires.
The question is, whether the waiver will take effect against the cotton, though it would not and did not against the provisions? And why would it not against the provisions? Simply because of the saving in the constitution. Code, §5212. This saving applies specifically to wearing apparel, household and kitchen furniture, and provisions, nothing else—all of them necessaries for the supply of ever-present or constantly recurring wants. There is no purpose to build up with or around the exempt articles anything like a homestead or exemption estate. They are not regarded as capital for accumulation of other property, but simply as necessaries for use whilst they last. When worn out or consumed, and other articles of like kind are acquired, no matter how, these latter may be claimed as exempt, not as products or successors of the former, but as an original stock, just as though the former had never existed. Each and every stock of such articles is original, and there is no limit to the number of stocks that may be claimed and set apart. The only limit is as to the kind of property and its value, the value of furniture and provisions being restricted to $300.00, but this restriction relates to what may be held as exempt at one and the same time; the aggregate value, adding successive times together, is unlimited. As often as the supply runs down below $300.00, it may be recruited by fresh exemptions up to that amount. No ...
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