Weston v. Moody
Weston v. Moody
Opinion of the Court
Appellants filed a bill in chancery against appellees, alleging in substance that appellants were seized in fee of a certain described lot of land situated in the town of Ocala, Marion county, Florida, and derived title by good deed of conveyance from said county through. Louis Fox, as Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of the county, and that said board derived title to said lot by patent from the United States. That from the time of conveyance to appellants until the-:— day of--, 1886, the lot was vacant and unoccupied, and that on the--day of-——, 1886, appellee S. L>. Moody took possession of said lot adversely to and against the wishes of appellants, who demanded possession of the same, and that the said Moody was in possession of said lot against the wishes of appellants. That on the-day of ---—, 1890, the said Moody conveyed to appellee Caro S. Murrell an interest in said lot, the amount of said interest being unknown to appellants, and that appellees were, at the time of filing the bill, in adverse possession of said lot as against appellants, and without their consent or authority. That said Moody being in such possession of the lot, had leased a portion of it to a third party named, the conditions of the lease being
The answer of appellees denies that appellants or either of them were seized in fee of said lot, or any part of it, or that they or any person as ancestor, predecessor, grantor or in any other capacity connected with them, or either of them, had ever been owner of said lot. It is denied that appellants derived title by good deed of conveyance from the Board of County Commissioners of said county through Fox, as chairman of said board as alleged. It is admitted that the county derived title to the lot by patent from the United States, but it is denied that the lot was vacant from the time of the said conveyañce to appellants until the--day of--, 1886. On the contrary, it is alleged that appellees and those under whom they claimed had been in actual, quiet, peaceable and unquestioned possession of the lot, claiming title thereto, adverse to all persons, under written deeds of conveyances, . since the year 1849. It is admitted that S. D. Moody had conveyed a part of the lot to Caro S. Murrell, who was in possession, and that he had leased to the party named. The adverse possession of Moody and Caro S. Murrell is admitted. After' replication was filed and testimony taken, the bill was dismissed on final hearing.
Counsel for 'appellants insists in his brief that improper testimony was admitted, of the part of appel.lees, and various objections to testimony, made before the master who took the evidence, are argued. It appears that objections to testimony on both sides were
Our conclusion is, that the decree must be affirmed on the testimony offered by appellants, and no reference need be made to the testimony to which objection is, urged here.
Before giving our reasons for affirming the decree we deem it proper to state that no objection, either by demurrer to the bill or otherwise, was made, that the case was not cognizable in a court of equity. Appellees conceded the jurisdiction of the court, and contested appellants’ case on the merits. It seems that both parties proceeded upon the theory that the court would have j urisdiction under the act of 1889 (Chapter 8884), and with this view all questions as to the jurisdiction of the court were waived. The bill was dismissed, as we think, rightly on the testimony, conced: ing that the court, under the circumstances, was authorized to determine the questions presented, and, without deciding the sufficiency of the bill in this case, had proper objection been made, whether under the act of 1889 or not, we dispose of the case on the record as presented.
The patent from the United States conveyed a tract of land, of which the lot in question forms a part, to the Board of County Commissioners of Marion county, Florida. Appellants put in evidence a resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of said county, and a deed from Louis Fox, as chairman of said board,
Appellants claim that Fox was authorized under the resolution mentioned to convey the lot to them, as they were owners of a lot adjacent to. the one conveyed, or attempted to be conveyed. They do not claim that they, or any one with wrhose title they are connected in any way, ever purchased the lot from the county or occupied it adversely for any length of time. Their right to the deed must depend, under the testimony, solely upon the fact that they were owners of an adjacent lot. They introduced testimony tending to show that the lot in question was in fact vacant and unenclosed at the time the deed was made to them; but conceding this to be true, it does not change the result in our judgment.
Appellees, in actual possession of the lot at the time of filing the bill, rely upon sources of title by possession and paper title extending back to an alleged purchase from the county in 1849, but we do not here go into a consideration of their title, as appellants derived no valid title to the lot, in our judgment, under the deed from Fox. Appellants entirely misconceived, we think, the purpose of the resolution and the authority
The decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. J. Weston v. S. D. Moody
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- A bill in chancery alleged that complainants were seized in fee of a lot of land, and derived title from a county by deed from the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of the county, who derived title from the United States; that defendants were in adverse possession of the lot against the wishes of complainants. Defendants answered admitting the adverse possession, but denied valid title in complainants from the County Commissioners, and set up title from them in defendants; title from the government to the County Commissioners being admitted, complainants put in evidence a deed to them from the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, and a resolution of the board under which the deed was executed: Held, Without determining the sufficiency of the bill under the act of 1889, Chapter 8884. that the resolution of the board did not authorize the execution of the deed to complainants, as they were not embraced within the class of persons to whom the chairman was einx^owered to made deeds, and as they showed no sufficient title the decree dismissing the bill should be affirmed.