Brown v. Greegan

Mississippi Supreme Court March 15, 1913

Brown v. Greegan, 105 Miss. 146 (Miss. 1913)

62 So. 11

Cook

Opinion of the Court

Cook, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The land commissioner of the state issued a patent to appellee for certain lands in Leflore county. Appellee, through mesne conveyances, also obtained a deed to certain other lands in said county; the source of title being a patent issued by the land commissioner. Finding other persons in possession of the lands, she instituted an action in ejectment against them, losing her suit in the circuit court, and on appeal this court affirmed the judgment of the lower court. She then filed a bill of com*152plaint against the land commissioner, setting up the -proceedings in the ejectment suit, showing the failure of her title to lands, and asked that the deeds from the land commissioner be canceled and her money refunded, with interest. She claimed that the state had no title to the lands, and that the ejectment suit was res judicata of that fact.

We think that the record shows a perfect title, in the state. .This case does not come within the exceptions of section 2927 of the Code of 1906, and the judgment in the ejectment suit in the circuit court did not adjudicate anything so far as the state is concerned. If the original suit had been a proceeding in the chancery court to cancel the patent, the decree of that court might be res judicata in proceedings to cancel the title,'wherein the land commissioner is made a party.

The decree of the chancery court is reversed, and the bill dismissed.

Reversed.

Reference

Full Case Name: Brown, State Land Commissioner v. Clara V. Greegan
Cited By: 1 case
Status: Published
Syllabus: Judgment. Parties. Concluded. Code 1906, section 2927. Where the land commissioners of the state issued a patent to certain lands and the patentee through mesne conveyance also obtained a deed to certain other lands, the source of title being a patent issued by the land commissioner, and such patentee brought ejectment against the parties in possession of such lands and on judgment being rendered - against him in the circuit court, appealed to the supreme court where the judgment of the lower court was affirmed because of his failure to perfect a bill of exceptions. Such judgment was not res judicata in a suit by the patentee against the state, to recover the purchase money, since under Code 1906, section 2927 so providing, “where title to public land sold by the state fails, the state should refund the purchase money, but that the Question of failure of title could only be determined in a suit filed in the county in which the land was situated, making the land commissioner a party.”