Snoddy v. Barnett
Snoddy v. Barnett
Opinion of the Court
OPINION of the Court, by
— This is a'contest for land* under advé^fe conflicting claims-The Ippellee was complainant in the court below, and as he must succeed upon the strength of his own claim, it is proper we should first inquire into the validity of his entry. It is in the followitig^trds:
- “ John Barnett enters 400*ac res'upon a treasury Warrant No. 385, adjoining Samuel Barton’s settlement and pre-emption on the west side, and to run «⅝⅜⅛ for quantity. July 16, If81.”
Previous to the date of this entry, ánd on the 20th of December 1779, Samuel Barton obtaifcpd from the court of commissioners a certificate for settlement and preemption, on account of raising a crop of corn in the country in 1775, and on the 1.5th of January 1780, entered his settlement with the surveyor in the following words :
“ Samuel Barton enters 400 acres by virtue of a certificate, &c. lying on Silver creek, at the Bull Lick.”
And on the 27Vh of October 3 780, William Dryden, as assignee of Samuel Barton, entered the pre-emption with the surveyor in the following words :
“William Dryden, assignee of Samuel Barton, enters a pre-emption warrant of 1000 acres, on Silver creek, at the Bull Lick, on the south side of Kentucky, adjoining his settlement.”
In giving a construction to Barnett’s entry, the question necessarily occurs, should it be made to adjoin the settlement entry in the name of Barton, or the preemption entry in the name of Dryden as the assignee of Barton ? In the case of Smith vs. Walton. (ante 152,) this question directly occurred and met with the adjudication of this court. It was then held, and we apprehend correctly, that a call like that in Barnett’s entry to adjoin a settlement and pre-emption, when the pre-emption had been previously surveyed in the name of an assignee, should be construed to adjoin the settlement. Considering then the entry of Barnett as calling to adjoin Barton’s settlement, we are led to inquire-whether his claim is sufficiently established j and if 80⅛ how it should be surveyed ?
We are of opinion, therefore, the court below properly sustained the settlement entry of Barton, and correctly directed it to be surveyed in a square at the cardinal points, making Silver creek at the Bull lick iis centre: and as we have before shewn, Barnett’s entry should adjoin Barton’s settlement, the survey should have been matje in a square to the cardinal points, adjoining Barton’s settlement on the west and extending westwardly forquantity.
This mode of surveying Barnett’s claim differs from that directed by the court below, but as the same land that was decreed to Barneti will be included in the survey when thus made, it can produce no effect in the decree pronounced in this cause.
Barnett then having shewn a valid claim to the land decreed him by the court below, that decree must be affirmed, unless the,tclaim of ¿noddy to the land contained in the decree is the one, ¿noddy de*
Decree affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.