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112 Ill. 247

Herron v. Gill

Illinois Supreme Court

Decided September 27, 1884

Illinois Supreme Court · decided 1884-09-27

L. W. James, Judge, presiding. This was a motion by William A. Herron, for a rule on Samuel L. Gill, late sheriff of Peoria county, to pay appellant the sum due him for rent from Marvin A. Breed, out of the proceeds of assets of said Breed in his (Gill’s) hands, as sheriff, for distribution to execution creditors of Breed.

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““At common law, before the adoption of the statute of 8 Anne, c. 14, the landlord had no lien of any kind, but only a right to distrain” (citing authorities) ; that such statute is not in force in Illinois, “being of a date later than the fourth year of James I,” adopted in that state as limiting the period from which the rules of common law shall be applicable therein; and that “if ever in force here as a part of the laws of Virginia, it has been repealed by implication, or superseded by subsequent acts of our Legislature intended as revision of the whole subject.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Howard v. Chicago Title & Trust Co.

““The present statute, by giving the landlord a lien only upon crops growing or grown, by implication excludes the idea of a lien on any other property of the tenant.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Howard v. Chicago Title & Trust Co.

Relies on Hadden v. Knickerbocker

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1884-09-27

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently October 1988

1 federal appellate · 12 state decisions

4018841890190019101920193019401950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Mr. Justice Dickey

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court:

¶2A lien is given by the statute to a landlord upon crops growing or grown upon demised premises in any year, for the rent that shall accrue during such year, (Rev. Stat. 1874, chap. 80, sec. 31,) but no specific lien is created or given as to any other property of the tenant. (Hadden et al. v. Knickerbocker, 70 Ill. 677.) At common law, before the adoption of the statute of 8th Anne, G. 14, the landlord had no lien of any kind, but only a right to distrain. Grant v. Whitwell, 9 Iowa, 156; Doane v. Garretson, 24 id. 351; Craddock v. Riddlesbarger, 2 Dana, 208; Eye v. Eye, 5 Watts, 139.

¶3This court has held that when personal property has been sold by the tenant in payment of a preexisting debt, in good faith, and the purchaser has removed the same from the demised premises, such property is not liable to distress for ¡vent, either at common law or by any provision of our statute, even though the purchaser knew there was rent due. Hadden et al. v. Knickerbocker, supra. See, also, Martin v. Black, 9 Paige, 641; Coles v. Marquan, 2 Hill, 447; Hastings v. Belknap, 1 Denio, 190.

¶4At common law, an execution levied on goods of the tenant, even where rent was due, took precedence of a distress warrant subsequently issued, and the officer had a reasonable time in which to remove them. 3 Cooley’s Black. 7; Pierce v. Scott, 4 W. & S. 344; Hamilton v. Reedy, 3 McCord, 38.

¶5The .statute of Anne, giving a landlord such a lien, is not in force in this State, being .of a date later than the fourth year of James I. If ever in force here as a part of the laws of "Virginia, it has been repealed by implication, or superseded by subsequent acts of our legislature intended as revisions of the whole subject; and the present statute, by giving the landlord a lien only upon crops growing or grown, by implication excludes the idea of a lien on any other property of the tenant. All the executions, here, came to the hands of the appellee, Gill, as sheriff of Peoria county, and were levied upon the goods of Breed, the tenant, before the distress warrant was issued and placed in his hands. When it came to his hands the lien of the various executions had attached, and any levy of the distress warrant was subject to such prior lien.

¶6Perceiving no error, the judgment of the Appellate Court will be affirmed.

¶7Judgment affirmed.

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