Henderson v. Samuel Mayer
| Decision Date | 07 June 1912 |
| Docket Number | No. 219,219 |
| Parties | D. L. HENDERSON, Trustee in Bankruptcy of Joseph Burns, Bankrupt, Petitioner, v. SAMUEL MAYER |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Samuel Mayer owned a plantation in Dooley county, Georgia, which he rented to Joseph Burns for one year. The rent not having been paid at maturity, Mayer, on November 13, 1908, made an affidavit in conformity with the statute, and a justice of the peace thereupon issued a distress warrant, which, on the same day, was levied upon the cotton, corn, and other products of the place. The crops found on the premises being, apparently, insufficient to pay what was due, the sheriff, at the same time, levied upon other property by virtue of § 2795 of the Code of Georgia, which declares that 'landlords shall have a special lien for rent on crops made on land rented from them, superior to all other liens except liens for taxes, . . . and shall also have a general lien on the property of the debtor liable to levy and sale, and such general lien shall date from the time of the levy of a distress warrant to enforce the same.'
Three days after the levy a petition in bankruptcy was filed against Burns, the tenant, who was subsequently adjudged a bankrupt. The trustee, when elected, obtained possession of all the property seized by the sheriff, and subsequently sold it in the due administration of the estate. The proceeds of the cotton and corn were paid over to Mayer, it being conceded that the landlord's special lien on the crops had not been affected by the bankruptcy proceedings.
Mayer also claimed that, by virtue of his general lien, he was entitled to have the balance of the rent paid out of the proceeds arising from the sale of the other property levied on, and filed his intervention to secure such an order. The trustee's objection was sustained by the referee on the ground that the landlord's general lien was discharged because it had been 'obtained by legal proceedings' or levy made three days before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. His ruling was reversed by the district court (175 Fed. 633). That judgment was affirmed by the circuit court of appeals without opinion. The case was then brought here by writ of certiorari, granted at the instance of the trustee, who claims that under the Georgia Code the landlord had no lien on the property prior to the levy of the distress warrant, and that whatever right had been acquired by that seizure was discharged by § 67f, which declares that 'all levies, judgments, attachments, or other liens obtained through legal proceedings against a person who is insolvent at any time within four months prior to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against him shall be deemed null and void in case he is adjudged a bankrupt.' [30 Stat. at L. 565, chap. 541, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3450.]
Messrs. Orville A. Park, George S. Jones, Merrel P. Callaway, Isaac Hardeman, and E. P. Johnston for petitioner.
Mr. Arthur H. Codington for respondent.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 634-636 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Lamar, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court:
The provisions of the bankruptcy act, preventing an insolvent from giving or the creditor from securing preferences for preexisting debts, apply not only to mortgages and transfers voluntarily made by the debtor, but also to those preferences which are obtained through legal proceedings, whether the lien dates from the entry of the judgment, from the attachment before judgment, or, as in some states, from the levy of execution after judgment. But the statute was not intended to lessen rights which already existed, nor to defeat those inchoate liens given by statute, of which all creditors were bound to take notice, and subject to which they are presumed to have contracted when they dealt with the insolvent.
Liens in favor of laborers, mechanics, and contractors are of this character; and although they may be perfected by record or foreclosure within four months of the bankruptcy, they are not created by judgments, nor are they treated as having been 'obtained through legal proceedings,' even when it is necessary to enforce them by some form of legal proceeding. The statutes of the various states differ as to the time when such liens attach, and also as to the property they cover. They may bind only what the plaintiff has improved or constructed; or they may extend to all the chattels of the debtor, or 'all the property involved in the business.' Re Bennett, 82 C. C. A.531, 153 Fed. 673.
In some cases the lien dates from commencement of the work, or from the completion of the contract. In others, prior to levy they are referred to as being dormant or inchoate liens, or as 'a right to a lien.' Re Bennett, 82 C. C. A. 531, 153 Fed. 677; Re Laird, 48 C. C. A. 538, 109 Fed. 554. But the courts, dealing specially with bankruptcy matters, have almost uniformly held that...
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...fide purchaser for value who shall have acquired the same without notice or reasonable cause for inquiry.' 2 Henderson v. Mayer, 225 U. S. 631, 31 Sup. Ct. 699, 56 L. Ed. 1233. Compare City of Richmond v. Bird, 249 U. S. 174, 175, 39 Sup. Ct. 186, 63 L. Ed. 543; In re Emslie, 102 Fed. 291, ......
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...seizing or levying upon whatever property was on the tenant's promises, was held to have a valid lien. Henderson v. Mayer, 225 U.S. 631, 32 S.Ct. 699, 56 L.Ed. 1233; Richmond v. Bird, 249 U.S. 174, 39 S.Ct. 186, 63 L.Ed. 543. Compare Minnich v. Gardner, 292 U.S. 48, 54 S.Ct. 567, 78 L.Ed. —......
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