# Brown v. Camp

> Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · October 12, 1921 · 275 F. 612

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8822155

## Case

- **Full name:** BROWN v. CAMP
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- **Decided:** October 12, 1921
- **Citations:** 275 F. 612; 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 2255
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court by Bryan
- **Judges:** Bryan
- **Cited by:** 2 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8822155

## Opinion text

BRYAN, Circuit Judge.
John E. Brown executed to his son, the petitioner herein, a mortgage note; the description of the property mortgaged being:
“Sufficient amount of lumber, shingles, brick, roofing, and cement in my possession.”
Thereafter the said John E. Brown was adjudicated a bankrupt. Petitioner sought to set up and establish the lien of the mortgage, which the referee declined to permit him to do. The action of the referee was confirmed by the District Judge. The ground upon which a mortgage lien was held not to exist was that the description of the property attempted to be mortgaged was too vague, uncertain, and indefinite. The referee also declined to allow parol evidence upon the question of what property was intended by the mortgagor and mortgagee to be described.
j 1 ] Under the amendment of 1910 (Comp. St. § 9631) a trustee in bankruptcy is vested with the rights and remedies of a creditor holding a lien by legal or equitable proceedings. This mortgage would have been void as against a judgment creditor. Reynolds v. Tifton Guano Co., 20 Ga. App. 49 , 92 S. E. 389 , and cases there cited. We are of opinion that a “sufficient amount” is not equivalent to all of the mortgagor’s property attempted to he described in the mortgage. The mortgage does not purport to cover all the property, but only a portion less than the whole of it. The fact that several articles were mentioned only serves to make the indefmiteness more pronounced.
[2] Whatever the rule is as to the admissibility of parol evidence of the intention of the parties, mortgagor and mortgagee, where the rights of third parties are not involved, their understanding, except as expressed in the mortgage, could have no effect upon the power of the trustee in bankruptcy to assert the lien secured to a creditor or innocent purchaser. Stewart v. Jaques, 77 Ga. 365 , 3 S. E. 283 , 4 Am. St. Rep. 86 .
The petition to superintend and revise is denied.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8822155. Public record. Not legal advice.