Knight v. Knight

• Decision Date: 07 June 1894
• Citation: 103 Ala. 484,15 So. 834
• Parties: KNIGHT ET AL. v. KNIGHT.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

15 So. 834

103 Ala. 484

KNIGHT ET AL. v. KNIGHT.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 7, 1894

Appeal from chancery court, Lowndes county; Jere N. WilliamsChancellor.

Action by A. R. Knight against Comer W. Knight and Nancy McQueen to foreclose a vendor's lien.A demurrer to the bill was overruled, and defendants appeal.Reversed.

The bill in this case was filed on June 15, 1891, by A. R. Knight against Comer W. Knight and Nancy McQueen.As originally filed, the bill averred that on January 27, 1883, John A Knight, who owned a one-sixth undivided interest in a certain tract of land, sold his said interest to Comer W. Knight for the sum of $1,250, for which amount the said Comer W. Knight executed, on that day, his promissory note, reciting therein that it was for the purchase money of the lands above referred to; that, subsequently, the said C. W. Knight sold a portion of the lands so purchased from John A. Knight to one Nancy McQueen.The original bill further averred that the said note came into the hands of the complainant by delivery for a valuable consideration, and that he was the bona fide holder of said note, and that there was still due thereon $642.The prayer of the bill was for the enforcement of a vendor's lien to compel the payment of said note.To this billthe respondents demurred.The chancellor sustained their demurrer; and the complainant amended his bill by the additional averments "that, in and by the execution and delivery of said note, the said Comer W. Knight made and established a vendor's lien to said J. A. Knight on said lands, to the extent of his interest therein, and that said vendor's lien is still valid and binding for the satisfaction of said note; that, in the year 1889, said J. A Knight died, holding, at the time of his death, the aforesaid note, still due and unpaid, and that afterwards, in the distribution of the estate of said J. A. Knight, the same being solvent, and all the heirs and distributees being of full age, the note aforesaid became the property, and went into the possession, of the legal heirs of said estate, and was by them transferred by delivery, and for a valuable consideration," to the complainant.The respondents demurred to the bill, as amended, on the following grounds: (1) That it contained no equity; (2) that it is shown by the bill that the administrator of the estate of said J. A. Knight was a necessary party to said bill; (3) that the bill, as amended, nowhere shows whether the said J. A. Knight died in the state of Alabama, or elsewhere; (4) that said bill fails to show who are the holders of the legal title to the note under which the complainant seeks to establish a vendor's lien, and that the holders of said legal title are necessary parties; (5) that the heirs and distributees of J. A. Knight are not made parties to the bill; (6) it is not shown by the bill whether J. A. Knight left surviving him a widow and children.On the submission of the cause upon these several grounds of demurrer, the chancellor overruled each of them.The respondent brings this appeal, and assigns as error this decree of the chancellor.

Gamble & Powell, for appellants.

HEAD J.

On January 27, 1883, J. A. Knight, owning five-twelfths interest in the lands described in the bill, sold and conveyed the same to the defendantComer W. Knight, who executed to the vendor his promissory note for $1,250, for a balance unpaid of the purchase money.Afterwards, Comer W. Knight sold his interest, so acquired, in a portion of the lands, to the defendantNancy McQueen.J. A. Knight thus held the vendor's lien on the lands for the security of this purchase-money note.Afterwards, he died, still owning the note, of which $642 remained unpaid; and the bill avers that "afterwards, in the distribution of the estate of said J. A. Knight, the same being solvent, and all the heirs and distributees being of full age, the note aforesaid became the property, and went into the possession, of the legal heirs to the same entitled, and was...