Cook's Hereford Cattle Co. v. Barnhart
Cook's Hereford Cattle Co. v. Barnhart
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of trespass to try title instituted by Alice B. Barnhart, ap-pellee, against Cook’s Hereford Cattle Company and others, to recover a certain tract of land, a part of the Pedro Flores Morales survey No. 1,414 or parts of A. B. & M. survey No. 1, patented to Louis Unger, containing 51 acres of land. The Cattle Company answered by a plea of not guilty, and the other appellants joined in that plea, and, in addition, claimed title from that company, and prayed for judgments on their warranty. A jury trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for appellee against all the appellants, and against the Cattle Company in favor of the other appellants on their warranties. There was evidence which tended to show that appellee had been in peaceable, adverse possession of the land in controversy, cultivating, using, and enjoying the same for a period of more than 10 years prior to a time in 1910, when a certain boundary fence that had inclosed the land in appellee’s inclosure was removed by the Cattle Company. There was also evidence tending to show a verbal agreement upon the part of appellee that the fence could be moved and placed on the line now claimed by appellants to be the true boundary line between the Morales tract on the north and the lands of appellants on the south.
Under the statement of the facts herein given, the court, after defining peaceable and adverse possession, instructed the jury: “Now, if you believe from the evidence that the plaintiff, Alice B. Barnhart, and her deceased husband, have successively had and held peaceable and adverse possession (as those - terms have been defined) of the land described in her petition, cultivating, using, or enjoying the same for any period of 10 *663 years after said possession commenced and before the removal of the fence by the Cattle Company in 1910, and that she did not agree in 1906 with Mason Maney, as agent of the Cattle Company, that the fence might he removed and rebuilt, so as to exclude the land in controversy from her possession, and did not authorize her agent, Needham Smith, to so agree for her, then you are instructed that such, possession was sufficient to vest title in the plaintiff by limitation, and you will return yoúr verdict for plaintiff for the said land. You are further charged that if you believe from the evidence that plaintiff and her deceased husband successively had and held peaceable and adverse possession (as those terms have been defined) of the said land for any 10 consecutive years, cultivating, using, or enjoying the same prior to the month of March, 1906, then plaintiff acquired full title, and you will find your verdict for her for the said land, although you may further believe from the evidence that plaintiff during said month of March, 1906, did agree with Mason Maney as agent of the Cattle Company that the fence might be removed and rebuilt so as to exclude said land from her possession, or that she did authorize her agent, Needham Smith, to so agree for her.”
Under the facts in this case, the parties, as well as every one else, knew the divisional line between the two tracts, for it was plainly marked by a fence that had occupied its position for more than 20 years. There might have been a doubt as to the true boundary line between the two tracts, but there was absolutely no kind of doubt as to the location of the true divisional line between the land owned by appellee and that owned by appellants, and the whole object to be attained by the agreement was not to fix a boundary, but to obtain title to 51 acres of land to which appellee had a title by limitations. It amounted to a parol conveyance of the land, and was within the scope of and obnoxious to the statute of frauds. Yerbal agreements for the settlement of an uncertain boundary is binding between the parties because no title is affected thereby, as neither could be said to have title to the disputed tract, and neither had any evidence of title, but such verbal agreement cannot be sustained where the title is clearly in one of the parties. Browne, Stat. Fraud, § 269.
Yerbal agreements as to unknown boundaries are permitted in the interest of peace and tranquillity, and to prevent strife and dissension among the citizens, for, as is well known, there is no more prolific breeder of trouble between neighbors than a disputed boundary, but the principle cannot be stretched so as to be the means of divesting one party of his title to land and investing it in another. There was no contest or dispute as to the boundary line between the Cattle Company and appellee, no difficulty whatever in ascertaining it. The county surveyor testified that the west corner of the Morales survey is still on the ground showing the original bearing tree, and the north corner of the A. B. & M. No. 2 is on the ground. There was no doubt as to the correct location of the south line of the Morales and the north line of the surveys south thereof. An agreement, therefore, to fix the line as indicated by the field notes and objects on the ground amounted to a parol conveyance of 51 acres of land by appellee to the Cattle Company. The court properly charged the jury that the parol agreement did not divest *664 appellee of her title. The agreement sought to be proved by appellants was not one to settle a boundary dispute, but to convey land by parol, an agreement to donate SI acres of land to the Cattle Company.
The second assignment of error complains of the refusal of the trial judge to give a requested charge embodying the contention that the agreement to fix the boundary in a certain place and the placing of the fence there would entitle appellants to a recovery, and was disposed of in the consideration of the first assignment. Appellants seek by a proposition to raise the question of estoppel under the assignment, but estoppel was not contained in the rejected charge and the question cannot be raised, even if there had been any evidence to sustain it.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cook's Hereford Cattle Co. v. Barnhart. [Fn&8224]
- Cited By
- 15 cases
- Status
- Published