(after stating the case). If it be assumed that the testator has bestowed the power upon his executrix to sell and dispose of any part of his real estate, as the title-to the disputed tracts remain vested in him as an abiding security for the entire purchase money, it devolved upon her to make it effectual by a sale of the land, and thus furnish the means of payment. This is indicated also in the contract itself, which authorizes the “lawful representatives”- of the testator, who is the executrix, to act in case of his death, a provision carried into effect by the provision made in the will.
“The ordinary meaning of the words ‘legal representatives,’ remarks Chief Justice Gray, in Cox v. Currin, 118. Mass., 198, “is executors and administrators, and we are of opinion that there is nothing in the terms of this indenture to induce the Court to attribute to the settler an intention that they should have any other meaning,” as, in the contract, there is nothing to show the terms not to have been used in its usual and obvious sense. But if the title has not been effectively transferred by sale of the executrix, or the will has not made some other disposition, it has descended to the other plaintiffs, who can recover of the defendant in the absence of an obstructing statute, and thus no defence can avail the defendant, nor can he complain of the judgment against himself.
2. The remaining ruling — the supposed subject matter of review — as involved in the judgment (for there are no spe*8■cific exceptions set out in the record), relates to the effect of the lapse of time upon the plaintiff’s cause of action.
It is very manifest that if the relation of vendor and vendee, so assimilated to that of mortgagee and mortgagor in the essential rights and liabilities incident to each, be such as to render applicable subsections 8 and 4 of section 162, The Code, which limit the time in which suits to foreclose and redeem property conveyed by mortgage or deed in trust, to the present case, the action of the plaintiff Overman would not be barred, because ten years had not elapsed since the default before he commenced his suit.
But, as the relation of vendor and vendee is not within the words oi the statute, though it possesses many features in common with that provided for in the statute, we do not feel at liberty to extend its terms and take in the case to which they do not apply. Proceedings to foreclose and redeem are thus limited and confined to mortgages and deeds in trust, and to these the time is restricted, and to none arising out of executory contracts of sale.
The only statute here applicable is that of section 158, The Code, which prescribes a ten-years limit for causes of action not specifically provided for in preceding sections. But to the application of this statute the obvious objection presents itself that it must be put in operation by an adverse holding, and hence the possession is that of a tenant holding under the owner, rendered hostile by no demand and refusal to surrender or resistance offered to the owner’s re-entry. Barker v. Banker, 79 N. C., 480; Allen v. Taylor, 96 N. C, 37.
Equally without support is the suggestion that if the debt is barred, so must be the mortgage to secure it. These are essentially distinct as affected by the statute of limitations, as is held in Capehart v. Dettrich, 91 N. C., 344; Long v. Miller, 93 N. C., 227.
There is no error, and the judgment must be affirmed.
Affirmed.