Blodgett v. Potosi Gold & Silver Mining Co.
Blodgett v. Potosi Gold & Silver Mining Co.
Opinion of the Court
The complaint states a cause of action, and the demurrer should have been overruled. It shows that certain parties, seven in number, therein named, in 1860, formed themselves into a mining association under the style of the Potosí Company, for the purpose of mining for gold and silver in the then Territory of Utah, now State of ¡Nevada, and to that end they made claim to and took possession of one thousand and four hundred feet of a certain ledge, with its dips, angles and spurs, there situated, in accordance with the usage and custom which prevailed in that locality whereby they each became vested with the title to an undivided interest of two hundred feet. That the interests so acquired by them could be sold and conveyed, under the usages and customs then and there existing, by delivery of possession without deed or other instrument in writing. That Joseph Blodgett, one of said parties, subsequently died intestate, and seized and possessed of an undivided interest of two hundred feet, less
If what is said as to the usages, customs and laws of Utah, and as to the facts of the case, be true, the plaintiffs are entitled to the relief which they seek, beyond all controversy, and we are at a loss to perceive upon what ground the claim of the respondents, that the complaint does not state a cause of action, can be sustained. The complaint does not show, as claimed by the respondents, that the title to the ledge is still in the original locators or their heirs. On the contrary, it shows that the title is in the corporation. Under the usages and customs alleged to be then and there in force, no deed or conveyance in writing was requisite in order to vest the title in the corporation. A delivery of the possession was all that was requisite. That was done, and the corporation having accepted the possession became vested with the title to the ledge and bound to issue its stock to the
Judgment reversed and cause remanded for further proceedings.
Mr. Justice Rhodes expressed no opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WOLCOTT A. BLODGETT, MARIA BLODGETT CLARK, and her Husband, SMITH CLARK, BENJAMIN BLODGETT, ELUTHERIA H. ADAMS, and her Husband, MARSHALL WALDO, VICTORIA McFARLAND, and her Husband, JOHH McFARLAND v. THE POTOSI GOLD AND SILVER MINING COMPANY, R. W. FOULKES, PETER RICE, V. M. MOORE, S. M. ATCHISON, JOHN H. ATCHISON, LLOYD TEVIS, JAMES B. HAGGIN, G. M. SWEEZY, R. J. MORGANSTERN, and the CHOLLAR POTOSI MINING COMPANY
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Mining- Claims—Conveyance of, Without Deed.—Where, by the usages and customs existing in the Territory of Utah, (now State of Nevada,) interests in mining claims situated therein, which had been acquired by location, in accordance with the local customs and usages which then and there prevailed, could be sold and convej’ed by delivery of pessession without deed or other instrument in writing; and where the ancestor, from whom the plaintiff took by descent certain undivided interests in such a mine, in his lifetime, in common with the other owners, so sold and conveyed said interests to a corporation formed under the laws of the State of California, by an association consisting of said ancestor and the other owners of said mine, which sale was in trust for the members of said association and their legal representatives, which conveyance was duly accepted by said corporation : held, that thereby said corporation acquired the title of said ancestor to said inine, and that said trust was enforceable by plaintiffs against said corporation.