Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

45 Tex. 634

McBee v. Johnson

Texas Supreme Court

Decided July 1, 1876

Texas Supreme Court · decided 1876-07-01

<p>Error from Kaufman. Tried below before the Hon. A. J. Fowler.</p> <p>John Q. McBee and others brought an action of trespass to try title against Robert Johnson and Jasper Edmiston for “so much of the league and labor of land granted to W. H. McBee by the State as is located in Kaufman comity.”</p> <p>February 2, 1872, defendants pleaded not guilty. September, 1872, the defendants amended, and say “ they are in possession of and claim the following land, to wit, four hundred and six acres of land, a part of the W. H. McBee sur* vey named in plaintiff’s petition, beginning at the west corner of survey Eos. 6 and 7, and marked D,’ at a stake from which a black-jack bears S. 30° E. four and a half varas; a hickory bears E. 86° E. two varas; thence S. 45° W. twenty varas; a branch, twenty-seven hundred and seventy varas; stake, from which a honey bunch of honey locusts bears S. 45° "W. thirty-five varas; thence E. 45° E. four hundred and seventy-five varas; a stake in prairie from which a grove of persimmons bears E. 80° E.; thence E. 45° W. twenty-two hundred and ninety varas; a branch, twenty-three hundred and eighty varas; timber, forty-one hundred and thirty varas, to the beginning, — it being the land conveyed by Henry Scoggin, administrator, &c., to Robert and Mathew Johnson, on 30th July, 1857; and they say they have never claimed any other part or partition of the W. H. McBee survey; and they Have disclaimed any ownership in and to any part of said McBee survey, except the land above described.”</p> <p>October 2,1873, plaintiffs amended, and say “ that said defendants are in the possession, use, and occupation of the land claimed and owned by plaintiffs; that is to say, that first part of said league set apart in partition thereof to William H. McBee, containing four hundred and six acres, to wit: Beginning at the west corner of Eos. 6 and 7, as numbered in the partition andón the plat thereof; thence S. 45° W. four hundred and seventy-five varas; thence S. 45° E. twenty varas, a branch, forty-eight hundred and thirty varas, a corner; thence E. 45° E. four hundred and seventy-five varas, corner; thence E. 45° W. forty-eight hundred and thirty varas, to the beginning, which land is more definitely described in the decree and report of commissioners, made by the County Court of Yanzant county;” praying judgment torrents, &c., &c.</p> <p>On the trial, plaintiffs read in evidence a patent to William H. McBee for a league and labor of land, and a- decree of partition of the league and labor among his heirs, in which that part allotted to William H. McBee is described as follows : “ Beginning at the west corner of Nos. 6 and 7, and marked ‘D,’ from which a black-jack bears S. 30°E. four and a half varas; a hickory bears E. 86° E. two varas;, thence 8. 45° W., crossing a branch several times, four hundred and seventy-five varas; a stake from which a post oak bears E. 10° E. six varas; a hickory bears 8. 85° E. eleven and a half varas; thence 8. 45° E. twenty varas; a branch, twenty-seven hundred and seventy varas; a prairie, thirty-one hundred and forty varas; a branch, forty-eight hundred and thirty varas; a stake, from which a branch of honey locusts bears 8. 45° E. thirty-five varas; thence E. 45° E. four hundred and seventy-five varas; a stake in prairie, from which a grove of persimmons bears E. 80° E.; thence E. 45° W. twenty-two hundred and ninety varas; a branch, two hunched and thirty varas; timber, forty-eight hundred and thirty varas, to the place of beginning.”</p> <p>It was admitted by defendants that the land in controversy, described by plaintiffs’ amended petition and occupied and claimed by the defendants, was the property of William E. McBee, deceased, one of the children and heirs of W. H. McBee at the time of his death; and that the plaintiffs were the heirs of the said William E. McBee, who was dead; and that the defendants were in the possession of the land described in the amended petition and claimed by them.</p> <p>The defendant read in evidence an order of sale, the inventory returned by Henry Scoggins, administrator of the estate of William E. McBee, the return of sale by Scoggins, and order of court confirming sale and ordering deed to be made to the purchasers. These proceedings are given in the opinion. Defendants, over objection, read deed of date July 31, 1857, of Henry Scoggins, administrator of William ET. McBee, for the land described as in the disclaimer to Robert and Mathew Johnson, the purchasers. Mathew Johnson conveyed to defendant Edmiston.</p> <p>Defendant Edmiston testified that on or about the day of the date of- the deed from Scoggins, witness saw defendant Johnson pay the purchase-money to Scoggins, who was then the administrator of William N. McBee’s estate; that soon after the date of the deed, witness and one of the Johnsons went into possession of the land under said purchase, and remained in quiet and peaceful possession of the land up to the trial, knowing nothing of the claim of plaintiffs until the filing of their suit; that witness and Johnson believed they had a good title, and that some of plaintiffs resided in the neighborhood and never set up claim to the land before suit.</p> <p>E. P. Chisolm testified that at the request of the Johnsons he attended the sale and bid off the land for them, they taking the deed and paying therefor, as was understood. It also appeared that William ET. McBee owned no other land than that in controversy at his death. Verdict and judgment for defendants. Motion by plaintiffs for new trial was overruled, and they prosecute error to this court.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1876-07-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently January 1954

6 state decisions

40187618801890190019101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Gould, Associate Justice.

¶1The subject-matter of this suit of trespass to try title, is four hundred and six acres of land, part of the W. H. McBee headlight, claimed by the appellants as the heirs of W. H. McBee, deceased, and claimed by the appellees (defendants in the District Court) under a sale by the administrator of the estate of said W. H. McBee. The validity of that sale is the main question in the case, the appellants contending that the order of sale does not “ describe the property to be sold and specify the terms of sale,” as required by the statute then in force, (Paschal’s Dig., art. 1321;) and that therefore the order is a nullity, and was erroneously admitted in evidence over their objection.

¶2The order of sale was made by the County Court of Kaufman county in April, 1857, and is as follows: “This day comes into court Henry Scoggins, administrator of the estate of W. H. McBee, deceased, and presents his petition, praying for an order to sell the real estate of said deceased, consisting of four hundred and six acres of land; which petition was allowed by the court. And it is further ordered by the court that said sale take place on the first Tuesday in June, A. D. 1857, at the court-house door, in the town of Kaufman, in accordance with law.”

¶3The inventory of W. H. McBee’s estate was in evidence, and shows but one piece of real estate, thus described: “406 acres of land, (valued,) at $10 per acre.” In June, 1857, the administrator reports a sale, had in obedience to the order of the court, on Tuesday, the 2d of that month, at the courthouse door in Kaufman, as follows: “400 acres of land, pur*642chased by Enoch P. Chisolm for $2.35 per acre, upon twelve months’ credit, with approved security, and mortgage upon said land for the purchase-money — making it nine hundred and fifty-four dollars and ten cents, ($954.10.)”

¶4The mistake in the quantity of land (given only in figures) is evidently clerical, the total price or purchase-money being computed for four hundred and six acres. By an indorsement on this return of sale, signed by the chief justice of Kaufman county, it appears that the sale was approved, as farther appears by the following order, made at the July Term of the Kaufman County Court..- “blow comes into court Henry Scoggins, administrator of the estate of W. H. McBee, and presents his sale bill of certain property belonging to said estate, which is hereby approved and- ordered to be recorded. And be it further ordered, that the administrator be required to make a good and sufficient deed to the purchaser.”

¶5It was proven by Chisolm that he bid off the land as agent for Kobert and Mathew Johnson; and it was also in evidence that the Johnsons paid the purchase-money, and went into possession, receiving from the administrator a deed to four hundred and six acres of the W. II. McBee headright, which deed purports to be made in pursuance of the order confirming the sale, and attempts to give the field-notes of the tract conveyed. The field-notes, as given, in consequence of a clerical omission of a few words, fail to properly describe the land; but by comparing them with the field-notes of that part of the W. H. McBee headright allotted to W. H. McBee, which were in evidence, it is plain that the object was to copy the field-notes of the latter tract.

¶6Without reference, however, to this deed, we think that the order of sale, taken in connection with the inventory, sufficiently describes the real estate ordered to be sold to admit of its being identified; and further, that taken in connection with the general provision of the law, that sales of land for the payment of debts, (save in certain specified *643eases,) shall he made on a credit of twelve months, the terms of the sale were sufficiently specified.

¶7In a recent case which was here decided, following the former rulings of this court, which are there referred to, an order of sale, very similar to this in its description of the property to fie sold, was held to be valid. The failure to give a full description of the land in the orders of the court, where sufficient appears to admit of its identification, and the failure to specify at length the terms of sale, where the intention is plain that the sale should be made on the usual terms, are at most mere irregularities, which cannot be held to make the orders and proceedings nullities.

¶8The order of sale, the sale, the confirmation thereof, and the compliance by the purchaser with the terms of sale, (which last is certainly accomplished by the payment of the purchase-money,) constitute an equitable title, sufficient to protect the purchaser, without a deed from the administrator. (Sypert v. McCowen, 28 Tex., 638; Bartlett’s Heirs v. Cocke, 15 Tex., 477.)

¶9It follows, from what has been said, that there was a valid sale, sufficient to protect the defendants, notwithstanding any defects in the administrator’s deed, unless the plaintiffs were right in the further objection made to the admission in evidence of these orders and proceedings, that they were,'under the pleadings, irrelevant.

¶10The original petition claimed so much of the W. H. McBee headlight league and labor as was located in Kaufman county. The defendants first answered by a plea of not guilty, and afterwards answered specially, claiming 406 acres of the W. H. McBee survey, named in plaintiffs’ petition, giving the same imperfect field-notes that were given in the administrator’s deed, adding, that it was the same land conveyed to them by the administrator, and disclaiming as to any other part of the W. H. McBee survey. The plaintiffs, by an amendment, recite the disclaimer of defendants, and allege that defendants are in possession of the land claimed by *644plaintiffs; “that is to say, that part of said league, set apart and partition thereof to W. E. McBee, containing 406 acres,” giving the field-notes thereof. These field-notes so far correspond with the field-notes of the tract claimed by defendants as to make it evident that the disclaimer of defendants was not intended to apply to the 406 acres, in controversy. The only intelligible construction of defendants’ disclaimer is, that it applied to all of the "W. H. McBee survey, except 406 acres sold by the administrator of W. E. McBee’s estate. In fact the plaintiffs, in making out their case, produced in evidence the admission of defendants, that the land in controversy, described in plaintiffs’ amended petition, was the property of William E. McBee, deceased, one of the children and heirs of W. H. McBee at the time of his decease; that plaintiffs were the heirs of said W. E. McBee, and that the defendants were in possession of the land described in plaintiffs’ amended petition. The case was tided under pleadings bringing in issue the plaintiffs’ title to this 406 acres of land, and the evidence offered was certainly relevant to that issue.

¶11There is an assignment of error, that the court erred in its charge to the jury, which might be disregarded, as not sufficiently specific.

¶12Whilst the charge of the com’t may be in some respects open to criticism, as not applicable under the pleadings, we find in it nothing calculated to mislead the jury as to the real issues on which they had to pass. Under the evidence the verdict was the only one which could have been properly returned. The judgment is affirmed.

¶13Affirmed.

/45/tex/634 · .json · Public domain