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66 Ark. 393

Moore v. Terry

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided April 22, 1899

Supreme Court of Arkansas · decided 1899-04-22

Alexander M. Dueeie, Judge. STATEMENT BY THE COURT. This is an action of replevin brought by the appellant against the appellee, in a justice court of Garland county, to recover possession of two mules, for the purpose of subjecting them to the satisfaction of a chattel mortgage executed by appellee to appellant.

Relies on Fort v. Black · Jenkins v. Shinn · Richie v. Frazer

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1899-04-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently September 1959

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 10 state decisions

701899190019101920193019401950decided

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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Hughes, J.,

¶1(after stating the facts.) It is the opinion of the court that the circuit court erred in admitting parol testimony to vary the terms of the mortgage, and in refusing to give the instructions asked upon the part of the appellant, and in giving instruction marked for the appellee, upon its own motion, for which errors the judgment must be reversed. There was in the language of the mortgage no ambiguity, and it is not pretended that the appellee, through fraud or duress, was induced to execute the same. While parol evidence may be admitted sometimes to show the circumstances under which it was executed, yet, when an instrument in writing is clear and unambiguous, it is inadmissible to vary or contradict its terms. This is familiar law. Featherstone v. Wilson, 4 Ark. 154; 1 Greenleaf Ev. §§ 257, 277, 281, 282; Richie v. Frazier, 50 Ark. 393; Jenkins v. Shinn, 55 Ark. 347; Rector v. Bernaschina, 64 Ark. 650; Cato v. Stewart, 28 Ark. 146.

¶2A mortgage given to secure indefinite advances limited to a certain time is valid. Fort v. Black, 50 Ark. 259. Mortgages to secure future advances are valid, according to our decisions. Martin v. Holbrook, 55 Ark. 659.

¶3The mortgage in this case was given to secure the sum of one hundred dollars, “and other indebtedness which may then be due the said W. F. Moore by Lottie Terry.” The words “then due” refer to the time when the one hundred dollars were to become due.

¶4For the errors indicated, let the judgment be reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial.

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