Gardner v. Jackson
Gardner v. Jackson
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The testimony fails to establish that the appellee, W. L. Jackson, purchased the land hi contest at the commissioners’ sale made under the judgment in the suit of Ewing v. Gardner, for the appellant, Bedford Gardner. Indeed, the latter himself does not testify.
The burden rested upon him to establish it, and there is neither positive testimony nor circumstances in evidence sufficient in our opinion to authorize us to reverse the conclusion reached below by the chancellor on this question of facts.
Moreover, the appellant had objected to the confirmation of the sale, and the issue thus made was decided against him. It is claimed that the land, the possession of which has been awarded to the ap
Ewing bought of Ray in 1870, and sold to Gardner about August 1877, and the latter did not get an assignment of the Hendrick patent until December of the latter year. The evidence tends to show that he began building his house before he traded with Hendrick. His own testimony is not clear upon this point, as he says both occurred about the same time. It is presumable that he would not build upon land not his own. It is shown beyond question that up to about
He so proves himself, but says he did it in ignorance of the facts. It is clearly proven, however, even by the appellant himself, that when he bought of Ewing, that the latter and himself went upon the land together with W. J. Elendrick, who then held the Elendrick patent, and the latter then surveyed to Gardner the land he had bought of Ewing, and that it included said one-fourth of an acre, and no claim was then made to any of it by Hendrick by virtue of his patent, nor was it mentioned. This is proven by all three of them, and Ewing says that the land then surveyed to the appellant is the same he sold him, and the court below so held.
The one-fourth of an acre was then enclosed with the balance of the Ewing land, and had been for ten or twelve years, and Ewing and those through whom he claimed title had been in possession of it for over twenty years. It appears that when Hendrick obtained his patent, which was for a narrow strip of land, that Ewing was in the actual possession of the one-fourth of an acre, and that the land covered by the patent was not in fact vacant land. The Blackford and Jackson land, out of one of which the Ewing land came, adjoined two certain patents covered by both, and these two patents adjoined and had but one dividing line, but when the Blackford or Jackson land was divided among the heirs entitled thereto, they failed to run to the dividing line and there was thereby left a long, narrow strip of land to which Elendrick then attempted to acquire title by patent. Ele proves himself that the Blackford and Jackson lands had a common dividing line and that he knew the land to which he obtained a patent had been previously surveyed. Under this state of case, even if the patent embraces the land in contest, it can not avail the appellant, and it is apparent that his claim that the one-fourth of an acre was not embraced in his purchase of Ewing is an after-thought, existing for the first time when he failed to pay for the Ewing land and its consequent sale.
As the court below awarded to the appellee, Jackson, the land claimed by the appellant, we are at a loss to know upon what ground it adjudged that Jackson must pay the costs of the suit.
In our opinion a judgment therefor should have been rendered against the appellant Gardner, and the judgment below is affirmed on the original and reversed upon the cross appeal of Jackson with
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.