Martin v. Martin

Tuck, J., delivered the opinion of this court. We can only decide the question submitted to the court below upon the agreement on which the case was tried, and that is, whether Thomas O. Martin, the tenant, was liable to ³⁷⁵ Martin, the purchaser of the land, for the whole rent for the year 1852, notwithstanding the orders and acceptances set out in the record ? There can be no doubt that the assignee of a reversion is entitled to the rent falling due after the assignment, where there is no reservation of the rent; “ the reason whereof is, that the rent is incident to the reversion, and passeth away by the grant of the reversion.” Coke Litt., secs. 215, 348. Shep.

Touch., 89. Gilbert on Rents, 67. And according to the fifth rule in Spencer’s case, (3 Coke, 16; Smith’s Lead. Cases, 22;) the purchaser at a sheriff's sale must be deemed an assignee in law.

It is there said: “The same law is of tenant by statute merchant or statute staple, or elegil of a term, and he to whom a lease for years is sold by force of any execution, shall have an action of covenant ill such a case as a thing annexed to the land, although they come to the term by act in law.” Comyn on Landlord & Tenant, 250. There seems to be as good reason for regarding the purchaser of the reversion, also, as assignee, and entitled to all incidents of the landlord’s estate which he may have bought under the execution, and it has been so adjudged. It is clear, upon the authorities, that the lessor cannot claim the rent falling due after eviction of the tenant by a purchaser at sheriff’s sale, under a judgment entered before the commencement of the tenancy. This was expressly decided in Day vs. Austin, Croke Eliz., 398, where, to an action of debt for rent, the defendant pleaded, that before the lease, a judgment had been given against the landlord, and that after the lease the land was extended and delivered in execution by elegit, before which extent there was nothing in arrear, and on demurrer the plea was sustained.

See also Playne’s case, Croke Eliz., 47. These cases are cited in most of the elementary works on this subject as authority for the doctrine, that eviction of the tenant by title paramount, will, as between the lessor and lessee, discharge the liability for rent falling due afterwards, for the reason, that the enjoyment of the land being the consideration for the rent, when the tenant is removed the obligation to pay rent ceases, though he shall be responsible ³⁷⁶ for any part that may have been due and payable before the eviction. Gilbert on Rents, 145. Comyn on Landlord & Tenant, 523.

Crabb on Real Property, 202 to 209. Hemphill vs. Eckfeldt, 5 Whart., 274 . But (he question here is, whether the purchaser, under a judgment rendered before the lease, is entitled to the rent falling due after the accrual of his title? Upon this point, we think, there can be no ground for doubt.

The purchaser’s right was expressly affirmed in the case of Bank of Pa. vs. Wise, 3 Watts, 394 , where the judgment against the landlord was obtained after the commencement of the lease. The only other points of difference between the cases is, that in the one before us, the tenant had accepted the orders of the landlord drawn on the rent when due. The case is fully discussed and the authorities referred to, for the purpose of showing that assignees in law, as well as those in deed, are entitled to the rent as incident to the reversion, and goes with it. Coke Litt., 215, b.

It is considered as following the reversion and belonging to it until actually and completely payable, and on this ground it is, that where the lessor dies before the rent becomes due, it goes to the person entitled to the estate out of which it issues; but if he dies afterwards, the executor or administrator is entitled to it. Comyn, 226. Crabb, 199. Rent, cannot be apportioned in respect to part of the time, except as provided by statute 11, Geo. 2, ch. 15, sec. 19, which does not apply to this controversy.

Clun’s case, 10 Coke., 128. Comyn, 129. Crabbe, 223 . 3 Kent's Comm., 469. In Delaware, however, a different rule prevails, under an act of Assembly.

Stayton vs. Morris, 4 Harr., 224 . The consequence of the common law doctrine is, that, in cases not within the statute of George, when the title of the landlord expires, the tenant is liable to pay no person at all for the previous time, unless a claim can be enforced in behalf of the assignee of the reversion. That this may be done where the claimant is a purchaser at sheriff’s sale, under a judgment rendered after the lease, we have seen; and if the same result does not follow a purchase under a judgment obtained before the lease, so as to give the whole rent to the purchaser, he would ³⁷⁷ fake the land and the profits from the day of sale, and the landlord would get no compensation for the previous occupation of the premises by the tenant. It results, then, that by allowing the purchaser to take all the rent becoming due after the sale, si adds so much to the value of the lessor’s interest in the land at the time of sale, and secures to him the benefit of the partial rent, not due at that time, in the only way that it can be done consistently with established rules of law.

We are next to inquire, whether the circumstance that the tenant accepted the orders of the landlord for part of the rent, before it was payable, takes the case without the operation of the principles above slated? We do not perceive that the plaintiff, as assignee of so much of the rent, occupies any better position, as against the purchaser, than the landlord himself would, if these