Wing v. Cropper

Decision Date30 April 1864
Citation35 Ill. 256,1864 WL 3049
PartiesPRESTON WINGv.ELTON C. CROPPER and wife.
CourtIllinois Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

ERROR to Circuit Court of Rock Island County.

The case is sufficiently stated by the court.

Charles E. Putnam, A. Webster and John N. Rogers, for plaintiff in error.J. B. Hawley, for defendants in error.

BREESE, J.

The plaintiff in error obtained a decree in chancery to foreclose a mortgage and for a sale of the premises. A sale was had by the master in chancery, and, on the coming in of his report thereof, the defendants entered their motion to set it aside, for the reason that at the time of the rendering of the decree, and at the time of the sale, the land was exempt from levy and forced sale under any order or decree of the court. They also proved that the premises were their homestead at the date of the mortgage, and long before and ever since, and as such, occupied by the defendants and their family; that the mortgage debt was contracted after July 4, 1851,1 and was not incurred for the purchase or improvement of the premises, and that he has never released his right of homestead. This motion was sustained and the sale set aside. The plaintiff took a bill of exceptions and brings the case here, assigning as error this decision of the court.

The plaintiff makes the point that the homestead act of 1851 imposes no restrictions upon mortgages of the homestead. It only exempts it from forced sale under judicial process. This admission disposes of the plaintiff's case. It is the sale, only, that has been disturbed. The decree remains as it was when rendered. A sale by the decree of a court of equity, under an order to the master to make the sale, is a forced sale, as much so as if the sale was made under a fi. fa. The cases of Smith v. Marc and Ely v. Eastwood, in 26 Ill., were sales made under a power to sell, and not by the order or decree of any court.2

The other points made are, that the defendants in error by the mortgage, ipso facto, waived the homestead act; and that not having set up the exemption in an answer to the bill, the question has become res judicata.

We cannot assent to either of these propositions.

The statute points out the mode by which the exemption can be released and waived, and unless that mode is pursued, the exemption is not lost. Walters v. The People, 18 Ill., 199; Kitchell v. Burgwin and wife, 21 Id., 40; Vanzant v. Vanzant, 23 Id., 540; Green v. Marks et al., 25 Id., 122; Deere v. Chapman, Id., 612; Smith v. Marc, 26 Id., 155; Pardee v. Lindley, 31 Id., 174; Hoskins v. Litchfield, Id., 137.

This last case decides also that the omission to interpose the claim to the homestead as a defense to the bill to foreclose is of no importance, as the party claiming it could avail of it by motion, as in this case.

This right is conferred by statute and can be divested only in...

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15 cases
  • Mccormack v. Kimmel
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • July 31, 1879
    ...could pass homestead rights: Green v. Marks, 25 Ill. 221; Hoskins v. Litchfield, 31 Ill. 137; Smith v. Miller, 31 Ill. 158; Wing v. Cropper, 35 Ill. 256; Moore v. Titman, 33 Ill. 358; Pardee v. Lindley, 31 Ill. 186; Silsbee v. Lucas, 36 Ill. 462; Wiggins v. Chance, 54 Ill. 175; Conklin v. F......
  • Graham v. Culver
    • United States
    • Wyoming Supreme Court
    • February 18, 1892
    ... ... the court, were decided in 1863 and 1864. Moore v ... Titman, 33 Ill. 358; Mooers v. Dixon, 35 Ill ... 208; Wing v. Cropper, 35 Ill. 256. The doctrine then ... disappears. The latest case in which we find it mentioned is ... Wright v. Dunning, 46 Ill. 271, ... ...
  • Kassing v. Catherine Keohane.
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • October 31, 1879
    ...People, 21 Ill. 178; Potts v. Davenport, 79 Ill. 455. Abandonment must be affirmatively shown: Stevenson v. Maroney, 29 Ill. 532; Wing v. Cropper, 35 Ill. 256. No judgment lien attaches to homestead right: Hartwell v. McDonald, 69 Ill. 293; Green v. Marks, 22 Ill. 221; Brown v. Cozard, 68 I......
  • Phillips v. Stauch
    • United States
    • Michigan Supreme Court
    • May 10, 1870
    ... ... least she has acquired another homestead, a locus penitentice ... remains open to her.--King v. Cropper, 35 Ill. 256; ... Vanzant v. Vanzant , 23 Ill. 536; C. L. pp. 1217-18; ... Ring v. Burton , 17 Mich. 465; Dulanty v ... Rynchon , 6 Allen 510; ... ...
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