In Mitchell v. St. Maxent's Lessee (1866) 71 U.S. 237, the Supreme Court said: "Void process confers no right on the officer to sell, and all acts done under it are absolute nullities." That case arose in the Federal Court in Florida and was finally determined by the United States Supreme Court. That case was decided without consideration being given to Sec. 45.16, Fla.Statutes 1949, F.S.A., because said statute was not in existence at the time of the institution of said suit. There it was said: "The writ of fieri facias, on which Mitchell rests his title, was tested after the death of St. Maxent, and, according to a familiar rule of the common law, it was therefore void. The death of a defendant before the test of an execution compels the plaintiff to sue out a writ of scire facias, for the 'alteration of the person altereth the process'."