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33 Mass. 22

Pomroy v. Rice

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided September 15, 1834

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1834-09-15

This was ejectment on a mortgage deed, dated October 25, 1825, and recorded, given by Daniel Coombs to the female plaintiff, who was then unmarried, to secure the pay-, ment of two notes, each for the sum of $200, one payable in three years, and the other in seven years, from April 1, 1826. On April 26, 1829, Coombs conveyed the mortgaged land to the defendant with covenants of warranty.

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently August 2010

1 district · 1 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[W]here a mortgage and note are given to secure the payment of a sum of money, the renewal of the note does not operate as a discharge of the mortgage.... Nothing but payment of the debt will discharge the mortgage.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including In Re Motta

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1834-09-15

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Wilde J.

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court. It has been contended by the counsel for the defendant, that the *24evidence reported shows a payment of the notes mentioned in the mortgage deed set up by the plaintiffs, and consequently that the mortgage is discharged. But it is, we think, a well settled principle, that where a mortgage and note are given to secure the payment of a sum of money, the renewal of the note does not operate as a discharge of the mortgage. In Davis v. Maynard, 9 Mass. R. 242, the note was given up, and a recognizance was accepted for the. sum due, and this was held not to discharge .the mortgage. The mortgage and the note, it is said, are two distinct securities. Nothing but payment of the debt will discharge the mortgage. In Watkins v. Hill, 8 Pick. 522, it was held, that the renewal of a note secured by mortgage did not discharge the mortgage, it not being intended as payment. A remark is made in that case, from which an inference is made, that the case might have been decided differently if the action had been against a purchaser under the mortgager. We are of opinion, however, that it could have made no difference. The mortgagee’s security cannot be impaired by any conveyance made by the mortgager.

¶2It has been argued, that taking the-new notes is prima facie evidence of the payment of the old. But if it were, the circumstances under which the notes were renewed are abundantly sufficient to rebut any presumptive evidence, that the mortgage debt was paid. Tidd was requested to have the notes renewed, which esc vi termini rebuts the presumption of payment.

¶3Judgment for the plaintiff.

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