Morrill v. Gelston's Lessee

Stewart, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Three exceptions were taken by the appellants to the evidence introduced on the part of the lessor of the plaintiff below, and have been brought up for review in this appeal. The first exception is to the admission of the proceedings in the Superior Court of Baltimore city, in the matter of Hugh Gelston vs. William M. Willis, because, as alleged, they were had under a special jurisdiction not shewn upon their face. The application to the Superior Court, on the part of Gelston, was to foreclose the mortgage he held against Wi,lilis, referred to in the proceedings.

The mortgage contained clauses declaring it to have been made with reference to certain provisions of the laws in regard to mortgages of real estate, or chattels real, in the city of Baltimore, and declaring the assent of the mortgagor to the passing of a decree, under the said laws or supplements thereto; and to a sale under any of said laws or supplements, in case of any default in any of the conditions of the mortgage — the proceeds of any sale to be applied to the extinguishment of the claims of the mortgagee, whether matured or not. Under section 782 of Article 4 of the Code of Public Local Laws, the mortgagee, in such case, was authorized to submit to the Superior Court of Baltimore city such mortgage or copy, under seal of the Court, at any time after filing the mortgage for record; and the said Court was empowered forthwith to decree a sale of the mortgaged premises at any one of the periods limited for the forfeiture of the mortgage, or for a default of the mortgagor, on such terms as might seem proper to the Court, and to appoint a trustee to make the sale. ⁴²⁰ The 784th. section of the same Article provides that sales made and conveyances thereupon shall have the same effect, if finally ratified by said Court, as if the same had been made under decrees between the proper parties in relation to the mortgages, and in the usual course of said Court. It appears from the character of the mortgage, and the proceedings to foreclose the same under these provisions, the Superior Court had jurisdiction in the matter, and was authorized to pass the decree for the sale of the mortgaged property. See Black vs. Carroll, 24 Md., 251 .

When the sale has been ratified by the Court, the same legal intendment and construction are to be applied thereto as if the same had been made by virtue of an ordinary decree, and it can no more be called in