Nolan

In 1891 plaintiff was the owner of a parcel of land in Mendocino County, which, for brevity, may be called the “Nolan place.” In that year he sold this land to his son, Arthur M. Nolan, defendant, taking in payment the son’s unsecured promissory note for the purchase price,, payable fifteen years after date and bearing interest at the rate of two and one-half per cent per annum. The defendant Arthur also purchased an adjoining tract of land, the “Kennedy place.” Thereafter he married. In 1901, subsequent to his marriage, he executed a mortgage to defendant Cathrin Morgan to secure the payment of a promissory note for five thousand dollars. This mortgage covered both the Nolan place and the Kennedy place. On January 11, 1906, the defendant Maud Nolan, wife of Arthur, recorded her declaration of homestead on the Kennedy place. On January 22, 1906, the plaintiff commenced this action to recover the amount due on his promissory note, to have adjudged to him a vendor’s lien on the Nolan place to secure its payment, and to have his lien foreclosed. Cathrin Morgan pleaded by answer and cross-complaint, setting up her mortgage and her ignorance of any claim of lien upon the part of…