J. R. SHOMAKER AND J. W. HINSON, PARTNERS AS J. R. SHOMAKER & COMPANY, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR,
v.
T. H. WATERS AND R. F. DAVIS, PARTNERS AS WATERS & DAVIS, DEFENDANTS IN ERROR

Fla. | 1908-06-01
Shackleford, C. J., and Whitfield, J., concur., Taylor, Hocker and Parkhill, JJ., concur in the opinion.
56 Fla. 559 Florida Supreme Court (1908) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed a trial court's rejection of a crop mortgage lien on cotton, holding that crop mortgages are chattel mortgages that need not meet the strict description requirements of real property interests and that parol evidence may supplement the mortgage description.


Holding

The mortgage is valid and admissible. Crop mortgages are chattel mortgages, not interests in real estate, and should not be subjected to rigid construction requirements applicable to real property descriptions. The mortgage sufficiently describes the property when supplemented by parol evidence showing the mortgagor owned only one farm in the county.


Key Quotes

“These crop mortgages are not interests in real estate, so as to require a definite description thereof, but are chattel mortgages long in use in the cotton States at least and should not be held to too rigid construction.”

Establishes the key legal principle that crop mortgages are chattel mortgages exempt from strict real property description requirements

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Facts & Procedural History

Shomaker & Company sued Waters & Davis for the value of three bales of cotton claimed to be covered by a mortgage crop lien given by one Adams. The mo…

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Opinion of the Court
Cockrell, J.

Cockrell, J.

The plaintiffs in error, as plaintiffs, sued the defendants in error, as defendants, for the value of three bales of cotton, which it was claimed were covered by a mortgage crop lien given the plaintiff by one Adams.

Upon the trial the court rejected the mortgage upon objection interposed that it did not sufficiently describe the property alleged to have been bought, and that there was a variance between the mortgage offered and that described in the declaration. As to the latter point we can find no variance and the defendant has not insisted upon the point here. The mortgage opens “State of Florida, County of Jackson,” and stating the parties and the consideration of a past indebtedness and future advances creates a lien “upon all cotton, corn and other products grown or produced by me or upon my farm in the year A. D. 1904.” * * * And it is agreed that upon removal of' any part of the above named property from the county, then this debt immediately becomes due and this mortgage subject to-foreclosure.” The instrument i? dated December 7, 1903, and was duly executed, acknowledged and. recorded, in the public records of Jackson County. The plaintiff offered to supplement this by parol evidence that Adams owned but one farm, which is in Jackson county, and upon which he raised the three bales of cotton during the year 1904, all of which was rejected

We are of the opinion that the mortgage and the proffered evidence were admissible. These crop mortgages are not interests in real estate, so as to require a definite description thereof, but are chattel mortgages long in use in the cotton States at least and should not be held to too rigid construction.

The mortgage indicates everything essential to-an exact description. All the cotton, corn and other products to be grown by Adams upon his farm in Jackson county. We think it fairly inferred that the particular county is designed, seeing that it prohibits the removing of the crop from the county, and but one county had been mentioned. Westinghouse Co. v. McGraph, 131 Iowa 226, 108 N. W. Rep. 449, S. C. 117 Am. St. Rep. 421.—There is nothing indefinite or uncertain as to the particular bales of cotton in that the whole year’s crop was covered, nor is there the uncertainty as to where the crop was to be grown, seeing that it was. confined to the mortgagor’s one farm. Authorities from our sister States are abundant to uphold this mortgage, at least when supplemented as was here attempted. An examination of the records would have placed Waters and Davis upon notice that all the cotton raised by Adams upon his farm in Jackson county for the year 1904 was covered by the mortgage to Shomaker and Company, and their failure to make the search should be their loss. Johnson v. Grissard, 51 Ark. 410, 11 S. W. Rep. 585, S. C. 3 L. R. A. 795; Smith v. Fields, 79 Ala. 335; Connally v. Spragins, 66 Ala. 258; Ellis v. Martin, 60 Ala. 394; Wasson v. Connor, Trustee, 54 Miss. 351; Weil v. Flowers, 109 N. C. 212, 13 S. E. Rep. 761.

Judgment reversed.

Shackleford, C. J., and Whitfield, J., concur. Taylor, Hocker and Parkhill, JJ., concur in the opinion.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …property may be -identified alone, if such description suggests inquiries or means of identification which if pursued will disclose the -property conveyed, it is sufficient. Divis v. Horne, 54 Fla. 563, 45 South. Rep. 476; Shomaker & Co. v. Waters, 56 Fla. 559, 47 South. Rep. 936; Andregg v. Brunskill, 87 Iowa 351, 54 N. W. Rep. 135, 43 Am. St. Rep. 388; 11 C. J. 456; 5 R. C. L. 429. An inspection of the pertinent parts of the description in the mortgages quoted in this opinion discloses that as to certa…
  • Tippins v. Belle Mead Dev. Corp., 112 Fla. 372 (Fla. 1933)
    …an annual crop of growing bulbs, which it is' alleged, was in existence at the time it was given, was not-unenforceable between the parties to it, regardless of whether it is enforceable'against third parties-or not. See: Shomaker v. Waters & Davis, 56 Fla. 559, 47 Sou. Rep. 936. Compare: Farmers’ Union Warehouse Co. v. Wells, 65 Fla. 350, 61 Sou. Rep. 745; Davis v. Horne, 54 Fla. 563, 45 Sou. Rep. 476, 127 Am. St. Rep. 151. The bill of complaint, also, was filed to foreclose a mortgage on real estate. Up…
  • …ndefinite, parol evidence is admissible to identify the property so as to give effect to the instrument in accordance with the intention of the’ parties. First Nat. Bank v. First Nat. Bank of Chipley, 90 Fla. 617, 106 So. R. 422; Shomaker v. Waters, 56 Fla. 559, 47 So. R. 936; Davis v. Horne, 54 Fla. 563, 45 So. R. 476, 127 Am. St. Rep. 151; 5 R. C. L. 429; 9 Ency. [*1508] Evidence, 397; 4 Jones Commentaries on Evidence (2nd Ed.) 2835. The property conveyed by the bill of sale in this case could not'be id…

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