Squires v. Riggs

• Citation: 4 N.C. 253,2 Car. L. Rep. 274
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Decision Date: 31 July 1815
• Parties: SQUIRES v. RIGGS.

4 N.C. 253

2 Car. L. Rep. 274

SQUIRES

v.RIGGS.

SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

JULY TERM, 1815

A prior voluntary conveyance of land shall prevail against that of a subsequent purchaser unless the latter is fair and honest. Hence, where A., in consideration of blood and affection, conveyed his lands to his only son, and afterwards for a valuable consideration sold the same land to B., but with the intention of defrauding his creditors, it was held that the son was entitled to recover from one who purchased of B. with notice of the circumstances.

R. Squires made a conveyance, in consideration of blood only, to his child, the lessor of the plaintiff, by deed. Afterwards R. Squires,by deed, for valuable consideration, conveyed the lands to William Jones, but such conveyance was not bona fide, being made with the intention of removing the land from the reach of the creditors of Squires. Jones conveyed to John Riggs, for a valuable consideration, who had notice of the circumstances under which Jones received his conveyance. The defendant holds under Riggs.

The jury, upon these facts, found a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and a motion is made for a new trial upon the ground that the verdict is contrary to law.

TAYLOR, C. J. The statutes relative to fraudulent conveyances have, from the periods of their enactment, received that construction which appeared most likely to suppress deceitful practices and to obviate all temptation to commit them. And the principle arising in this case was brought under the notice of the Court at a very early period after the passing of 27 Eliz., when such a decision was made as might have been expected from the spirit and policy of the statute; for it would seem strange that a person setting up a title which bore upon its face the character of iniquity, and was avowedly designed to defraud creditors, should shelter himself under a law the very design of which was to frustrate and discountenance all such attempts. Accordingly, it has been held in every case in which the question has occurred not only that a purchaser must have paid a valuable consideration, but that the transaction must be fair and honest; and although it is not possible, perhaps, to find a case where the purchase was made precisely with the same view, viz., to defraud the creditors, as in the case before us, yet the bona fides is required as indispensable; for it surely cannot make any difference in principle whether the transaction, if it be really corrupt,...