Stallworth v. Roberts
Stallworth v. Roberts
Opinion of the Court
— Appellants filed their bill of complaint against the appellees to quiet title (under section 809 et seq. of the Code of 1896) to several thousand acres of wild timber lands, describing same by government numbers. The lands do not form one complete body, but lie in perhaps as many different sections, some portions thereof being 7 or 8 miles from others, and in different townships and ranges. The complainants each claimed different parcels of land, and the respondents claimed title to, and possession of, separate and distinct parcels, and all denied the title and possession of complainants. The bill was repeatedly amended, by change of parties and otherwise, and the various defendants answered, some separately, and some jointly, and demurred, and made their answers cross-bills, etc. — all of which pleadings it is unnecessary to notice or consider fully.
The complainants (appellants here) demanded a jury trial upon several issues specified, as is provided by section 812 of the Code of 1896, now section 5446 of the Code of 1907. This section is as follows. “812. Jury
The complainants’ demand was as follows: ' “Now come the complainants in the above-entitled cause, and respectfully demand a trial by jury of the following-issues between the complainants and the defendants 0. H. Brown, Henry Brannan, and Thomas Brannan, re-respectively; that is to say (1) Complainants demand trial by jury upon the issue of the possession of the complainants of the property involved in the litigation between the respective parties at the time of the filing of the original bill of complaint. (2) Complainants demand trial by jury upon the issue of the possession of the respective defendants of the land claimed by them at the time of the filing of the respective cross-bills. (3) Complainants demand a trial by jury upon the issue as to whether or not the said respective defendants owned the interests in the lands claimed by them in their answer. (4) Complainants demand trial by jury upon the issue with the respective defendants as to the complainants’ title to the lands in question. And the com
These questions were certified to the circuit court, and a jury trial was there had as to such issues, with the following verdict thereon: “We the jury find the complainants were not in the peaceable possession of the lands .described in the bill when it was filed. We further find that each of the respective defendants were not in the peaceable possession of the lands described in their respective cross-bills at the time the same were filed. We further find that the respective respondents do not own the interest in the lands claimed by them, in their respective answer. We further find that the complainants do not own the lauds described in the bill.”
The complainants in the circuit court'moved the court to try the issues separately between the complainants and each of the defendants, as to that part of the land claimed by the respective defendants. The court overruled the motion, and tried all of the issues at the same time, but the verdict of the jury was separate and distinct upon each issue as to each defendant; and the judgment of the circuit court thus determined each Issue separately from the other issues.
The appellants reserved a bill of exceptions to the proceedings in the circuit court, and made it a part of their motion in the chancery court to set aside the verdict and finding of the jury, in so far as it was found that complainants had no- title, and were not in possession of the lands. The court declined to set aside the verdict and resubmit the issue to a jury, and the cause was set -down for a final hearing on the pleadings and proof; and the chancellor decreed that certain parts of the lands belonged to complainants, and that certain of the defendants as to whom decrees pro confesso had
Various errors are assigned as to the trial in the circnit court, and as to the chancellor’s declining to set aside the verdict and finding of the jury, in so far as it fonnd that complainants had no title or possession sufficient to maintain the bill, and to the decree of the chancellor in so far as it dismissed the bill as to these appellants, but did not seek to set aside the verdict or finding in so far as it found that respondents had no title or possession; that is, complainants contended in the court below, and here contend, that the findings of the jury, in so far as they were against complainants, should be set aside, but. that in so far as they were against respondents they should stand, and be binding on the chancery court. This contention is based upon the fact that complainants reserved and took a bill of exceptions to the trial in the circuit court, and had it certified back to the chancery court and made it a part of their motion for a new trial, and that respondents did not, and that for this reason the rulings or findings against respondents in the circuit court could not be reviewed in the chancery court or in this court. It is unnecessary for us to pass upon this question as to whether the verdict of the jury and the judgment of the circuit court thereon can be set aside in part and enforced in part by the chancery court, or by this court on this appeal, for the reason that the decree of the chancellor must be affirmed upon other grounds.
With all the evidence in that was offered in the circuit or the chancery court, it neither showed nor tended to show such title to any part of the lands as would support complainants’ bill under the statutes under which the hill was filed. No actual possession, as distinguished from constructive possession, was shown, on the part of appellants (the complainants- in the court below) to any part of the lands in question, at the time of the filing of the bill; nor did they show any title to any part of the land in question, which could draw to it the constructive possession necessary to support the bill. Actual possession, as distinguished from constructive possession, was disclaimed and disproved, and it is not here insisted upon. The sole title and constructive, possession of complainants depended upon the following facts:
The complainants offered in evidence a copy of a deed as follows:
Exhibit D.
“This indenture, made the twenty-sixth day of March, A. D. 1866, between Garland Goode and Prances E. Goode, his wife of the first part, B. P. Stallworth, Cal-
“The State of Alabama, Mobile County. I, Joseph Seawell, a justice of the peace in and for said county, hereby certify that Garland Goode, whose name are signed to the foregoing conveyance and who are known to me, acknowledged before me on this day that being informed of the contents of the conveyance they executed the same voluntarily on the day the same bears date ‘and-Goode, his wife,’ were stricken out before acknowledgement. Given under my hand the twenty-sixth day of March A. D. .1866. J. Seawell, Justice of the Peace. M. C.
“Received in office for record March 27, 1866. Piled in office March 2, 1907. S. H. Smith, Clerk.
“Piled March 6, 1907. Carl Holzborn, Register.”
Had the deed in question attempted to convey all the lands owned by the grantor in these particular townships, or all that were suitable for, or could be used hi connection with, his sawmill, it may be that the evidence would have tended to show title in complainants to the lands in question, or to some parts thereof; but the deed did not purport to convey all the land owned by the grantor in these townships, or all that could be used' in connection with the sawmill of the grantor. The deed only purported to convey “all those tracts or parcels of lands” theretofore “purchased” or “entered” by the grantor, and to which he then “claimed title as a part of said mill lands and tract,” containing 12,000 acres, more or less; specifying that for “a more particular and accurate description whereof reference is here made to the deeds, land office certificates, patents and maps of the same which are herewith delivered’ by the grantor to the grantees.
None of these deeds, certificates, maps, or plats, which identified the lands intended to be conveyed, were
For aught that appears from this record, none of the land described in the bill of complaint was described in the documents referred to, though they were once owned by the grantor, and were suitable to be used in connection with his sawmill located in Mississippi. If it could be said that any of the lands described in the bill were described in the deed or documents delineating the lands conveyed, there was no evidence from which the jury, the circuit court, the chancery court, or this court could know what part was so described or conveyed. It is certain that the deed of the grantor was not intended to convey all the lands he then.owned,, or ever owned, in those townships referred to; but only those lands described in the -documents referred to, which were not produced, accounted for, or proven. Nor was there any evidence to show that he owned no other lands than those described in the bill or in the documents referred to, or that they described the same lands. Prom this condition of matters, it is clear that complainants had failed to prove the averments of their bill, or the issues in their favor submitted to the jury, which was necessary to support a decree in their favor as to these lands.
It is unnecessary to pass upon the correctness of the rulings of the circuit court in admitting or excluding evidence, or as to the charges or instructions or any other matters complained of; for, if all these rulings
We are of the opinion that there were no reversible errors in either the circuit court or the chancery court. The courts properly rendered the only judgment and decree that should have been rendered under the pleadings and proof as submitted — certainly so, in so far as complainants (appellants) were concerned.
The decree of the chancery court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.