Archives > 1976 South Carolina Code of Laws - Previous Versions > 2005 Session > Title 29

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Title 29 - Mortgages and Other Liens

CHAPTER 13.

AGRICULTURAL LIENS

SECTION 29-13-10. Lien of landlord for rent and advances.

Every landlord leasing land for agricultural purposes shall have a prior and preferred lien for his rent to the extent of all crops raised on the lands leased by him, whether raised by the tenant or some other person. No writing or recording shall be necessary to create such lien, but it shall exist from the date of the contract, whether in writing or verbal, and the landlord and his assigns may enforce such lien in the same manner, upon the same conditions and subject to the same restrictions as are provided in this chapter for persons making advances for agricultural purposes. And, subject to the liens hereinafter provided for and enforceable in the same way, the landlord and his assigns shall have a lien on all the crops raised by the tenant for all advances made by the landlord to such tenant during the year.

SECTION 29-13-20. Laborer's lien on crops.

Laborers who assist in making any crop on shares or for wages in money or other valuable consideration shall have a lien thereon to the extent of the amount due them for such labor. Such portion of the crop to them belonging, or such amount of money or other valuable consideration as may be due them, shall be recoverable by an action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

SECTION 29-13-30. Priorities among landlord and laborer liens.

The landlord shall have a lien upon the crops of his tenant for his rent in preference to all other liens. Laborers who assist in making any crop shall have a lien thereon to the extent of the amount due them for such labor, next in priority to the landlord, and as between such laborers there shall be no preference. The landlord's lien for advances shall be paid next after the satisfaction of the landlord's lien for rent and the laborer's lien for labor and shall rank in other respects as it does now under existing laws.

SECTION 29-13-40. Indexing of landlord's lien for advances.

The landlord's lien for advances shall be indexed in the office of the register of deeds or clerk of the court (when the office of register of deeds does not exist) of the county in which the land is located and the indexing of such lien shall constitute notice thereof to all third persons and entitle the lien to the benefit of this chapter only from the time of such filing for indexing. The index shall show the names of the lienor and lienee, the date and amount of the lien and a brief description of the place so cultivated. And such indexing shall be a sufficient record of the lien and the property covered by such lien, so indexed as aforesaid, if found in the hands of subsequent purchasers or creditors, shall be liable to such lien. The clerk of court or register of deeds, as the case may be, shall endorse his official certificate upon every lien on a crop or crops filed in his office under the provisions of this chapter and his only fee for filing, indexing and certifying such liens shall be fifteen cents for each lien so filed, indexed and endorsed.

SECTION 29-13-50. Lien for supplies advanced.

Any person who shall make advances in provisions, supplies and other articles for agricultural purposes shall have a lien in preference to all other liens, existing or otherwise, upon such provisions, supplies and other articles, until they shall be consumed in the use. In case anyone to whom such provisions, supplies and other articles are so advanced shall endeavor to dispose of them for other purposes than that for which they were advanced or in case any person shall endeavor to make such provisions, supplies and other articles liable for the debts of the person to whom they were advanced, then the person advancing such provisions, supplies or other articles shall have the same remedies and means for enforcing his lien as are herein provided in case of advances for agricultural supplies.

SECTION 29-13-60. Seizure of crop to prevent defeat of lien.

If any landlord making such advances shall prove by affidavit to the satisfaction of the clerk of the court of the county in which such crop is that the person to whom such advances have been made is about to sell or dispose of his crop or in any other way is about to defeat the lien herein provided for and shall accompany such affidavit with a statement of the amount then due, such clerk may issue his warrant, directed to any of the sheriffs of this State, requiring them to seize such crop and, after due notice, sell it for cash and pay over the net proceeds thereof, or so much thereof as may be necessary, in extinguishment of the amount then due.

SECTION 29-13-70. Sheriff shall hold proceeds if amount due is contested.

If the person to whom such advances have been made shall, within thirty days after such sale has been made, give notice in writing to the sheriff, accompanied with an affidavit to this effect, that the amount claimed is not justly due, the sheriff shall hold the proceeds of such sale subject to the decision of the court upon an issue which shall be made up and set down for trial at the next succeeding term of the court of common pleas for the county in which the person to whom such advances have been made resides. In such issue the landlord who makes such advances shall be the actor.

SECTION 29-13-80. Situation in which enforcement may be in magistrate's court.

When any landlord shall have made advances for agricultural purposes and shall have secured a lien upon the crop of the person to whom such advances may be made, according to the provisions of law relating to agricultural liens, and the amount of such advances does not exceed one hundred dollars, any magistrate of the county in which such lien is indexed may, upon the production of such lien and the proof required in cases in which clerks of the court may issue warrants, issue his warrant directed to a constable or sheriff of the county requiring him to seize such crop and after due notice sell it for cash and apply the net proceeds thereof, or so much thereof as may be necessary, in extinguishment of such lien.

SECTION 29-13-90. Contest of amount due when enforcement is in magistrate's court.

If the person to whom such advances have been made shall give notice in writing within ten days after such seizure, accompanied with an affidavit to the effect that the amount claimed is not justly due, then the magistrate issuing the warrant shall, at the expiration of twenty days, decide an issue which shall be made up, in which the landlord who may have made such advances shall be the actor. The costs and fees of magistrates for enforcement of agricultural liens shall be the same as for clerks of court in similar cases and constables in magistrates' courts shall be allowed in such cases the same fees and costs allowed in like cases to sheriffs.

SECTION 29-13-100. Requisites of affidavits and statements; motion to vacate warrant of seizure.

The affidavit and statements to be used to obtain any warrant of seizure provided for in this chapter shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the practice regulating the issuing of warrants of attachment under this Code and the person against whom it is issued may move before the clerk of the court or magistrate by whom it is issued or a circuit judge to vacate such warrant of seizure for any of the causes which would be sufficient to vacate a warrant of attachment issued under this Code.

SECTION 29-13-110. Bond of applicant.

Before issuing any such warrant, the officer to whom application therefor is made shall require the person applying to enter into an undertaking, with sufficient surety, to the effect that he will pay to the person whose crops are to be attached or seized such costs as may be awarded to him should the warrant be set aside and all damages that he may sustain in consequence of the issuing of such warrant, if it should be decided by any court of competent jurisdiction that it had been illegally or improvidently issued, not exceeding the sum specified in the undertaking, which shall be at least two hundred and fifty dollars except in case of a warrant issued by a magistrate when it shall be at least twenty-five dollars.

SECTION 29-13-120. Situation in which lien creditor may proceed before debt becomes due.

In case any portion of the crop is removed from the land rented or leased and the proceeds thereof not applied to the payment of the rent for the year or to the other liens herein provided for and this fact shall be made to appear by affidavit, persons holding liens as herein provided shall have the right to proceed to collect the amounts which will become due for rent or advances in the same way as if they had become due according to contract before such removal.

SECTION 29-13-130. Recovery of crop severed on giving of bond.

Any person whose crop, whether it be severed from the freehold or not, may be seized under the provisions of Sections 29-13-80 or 29-13-90 may, upon entering into bond in accordance with the provisions of law in force in regard to actions for claim and delivery of personal property, recover immediate possession of the crop so seized. But nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to affect any of the provisions of said sections when no bond is given as herein authorized.