Rice's devisees v. Welch
Rice's devisees v. Welch
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court.
TO obtain from Welch a surrender of his elder title, the devisees of Rice exhibited their bill in the court below, claiming the superior equity under an adverse entry, made in the name of their testator, in the following words :
‘‘ Dec. 2, 1782—Thomas Rice enters one thousand acres of land, upon a treasury warrant, No. &c. beginning 80 poles north from where the trace that leads from Lexington to the mouth of Hickman creek, crosses the largest branch of Jessamine ; thence running from said beginning N. 45 W. 400 poles ; thence running from the extremities of this line N. 45 E. until a line parallel to the beginning line, shall include the quantity.”
“ January 21, 1783—Thomas Rice offers the following amendment to his entry of one thousand acres, on a treasury warrant, &c. Instead of the words, “ the largest branch of Jessamine,” insert the words, “ a large branch of Jessamine, where John Craig’s family encamped.”
So that the entry under which the devisees of Rice assert their equity, as amended, is to begin “ 80 poles north from where the trace that leads from Lexington to the mouth of Hickman creek, crosses a large branch of Jessamine, where John Craig’s family encamped.”
The validity of Rice’s entry is not only contested by the answer of Welch, but he also denies that it has been regularly and legally surveyed. The court below dismissed the complainants’ hill, and they have appealed to this court.
1. This court concurs with the court below, in the decree which it pronounced, Lexington, the mouth of Hickman creek, and the trace leading from the one to the other, are all objects proved to have possessed
It is, however, apparent, from the fact of Craig’s family having camped at the upper branch, that the
2. But were it even conceded, that the entry might he sustained, (and whether it can or not, we would not be understood as expressing any opinion,) still, without showing what land is included in the survey made under Rice’s entry, the complainants cannot he entitled to a decree against the appellee ; and we have been unable to discover any evidence conducing to show that the land in contest, or any part thereof, is contained in Rice’s survey. The beginning of the survey is proved ; but there is no legitimate evidence of any other corner, or any line of the survey. Neither the plat and certificate of survey, nor the patent, is exhibited in the record, and not a solitary witness has pretended to point out any part of the survey, except the beginning corner. The surveyor has given a figure on the connected plat, which lie describes to be the land surveyed and patented for Rice ; but the figure so given, he reports to have been laid down by the directions of the complainants, and cannot, according to any rule of evidence, be admitted competent to prove the boundary of Rice’s survey. The report is, no doubt, competent to prove any objects reported to exist on the ground ; and if the corner trees and lines of the figure represented as Rice’s boundary, had been described by the surveyor in his report, the report would have been evidence of the existence of those objects; and a correspondence between those objects and the calls in the certificate of survey, or patent of Rice, would be sufficient to identify the land patented to Rice. But as neither the certificate of survey nor patent is exhibited in the record, there is nothing to aid the report of the surveyor in this cause, and that report cannot be admitted sufficient to prove the land described as Rice’s, to have been in fact surveyed for him and included in his patent.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.