Southern Kansas Ry. Co. of Texas v. Vance.
Southern Kansas Ry. Co. of Texas v. Vance.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit by appellee, J. G. Vance, against appellant, the Southern Kansas Railway Company of Texas, in trespass to try title to ll28/ioo acres of land in Carson county. Judgment was rendered for the land and for damages in favor of appel-lee in the district court of Randall county, where the case had been taken on change of' venue, from which judgment appellant brings the case to this court on appeal.
The petition is in form one in trespass to' try title. The answer is by general denial, disclaimer except as to ll28/ioo acres of land described by metes and bounds, estoppel and two and four year statute of limitation-as to the damages claimed, and by section 5 of the answer, which is as follows: “(5) And' for other further and special answer herein,, if required to further answer herein, defendant says: That prior to the time of entering upon and taking possession of the-land described in paragraph 3 of this answer, it caused condemnation proceedings to: be instituted under the statute providing-therefor for the purpose of condemning the-said lands for its right of way purpose; this-after it was determined that plaintiff-and defendant could not agree upon the damages;that a proper statement was made in writing, and three disinterested freeholders of Carson county were appointed as special1 commissioners to assess such damages, by the district judge of the Thirty-First district, of which Carson county was and still is a part; that they thereafter duly qualified as-such, and thereafter, plaintiff being duly notified, appointed a day and place of hearing; that thereafter, on the day so appointed, the said commissioners met, and, at the time and place so appointed, proceeded to hear the parties; that the said plaintiff appeared at the said time and place and before the said commissioners and put in and urged his claim for damages; that the said special commissioners heard the evidence, and thereupon assessed plaintiff’s damages at the sum of $225.60; that, prior to said condemnation proceedings by said special commissioners, said J. C. Vance, in writing, agreed that said commissioners need not serve him with process, and could proceed and condemn right of way through his said land for this-defendant; that said waiver is in writing and signed by plaintiff on September 11, 1907, and said hearing was had and damages assessed thereafter by' the commissioners so-appointed; that plaintiff, being then dissatisfied, attempted to appeal from the award of the said commissioners, but has failed in his appeal, and the same is either still pending in the Court of Civil Appeals at Ft. Worth or has been finally disposed of against plaintiff; that the assessment so made by the said special commissioners was in writing and signed by them on the 17th day of September, 1907; that thereafter, and before the defendant took possession of the said lands, it, as required by law, paid all costs of the condemnation ¡proceedings, and paid .the amount of the award for damages to the clerk of Carson county, as the law directs, and said moneys are still in the hands of the said clerk for plaintiff, if he will’ accept the same; defendant says, and here pleads as a *698 complete bar to the plaintiffs right of recovery herein, that, plaintiff having appeared before the said commissioners and urged his ■claim for damages for the right of way covering the lands mentioned in said paragraph 3 of this answer, the only question was as to the amount of his damages, and, the commissioners having fixed the amount, his only remedy was by proper appeal therefrom; that by so doing he thereby abandoned all other remedies he might otherwise have had or resorted to; that the said assessment of the said commissioners was and still is res ad judicata of the right to the land and the amount of the damages, which defendant has paid, and the same, not having been revised on appeal, is a complete bar to plaintiff’s right to recover the land and as to all damages claimed in his said petition; that said proceedings called into exercise the judicial powers of the tribunal provided by law, and its judgment is valid and binding upon the said plaintiff and a complete bar to his action herein, and of all of this defendant is ready to verify, puts itself up on the country, and asks to be hence dismissed, with its costs.”
The parties made the following agreement: “It is agreed that, according to the pleadings of the defendant in this case by both parties, the title to the land described in the plaintiff’s petition is in plaintiff, and that it is not necessary to make any proof of title, but that this agreement as to title is subject to defendant’s claim for the right of way over that portion of said lands which is described and set out in the defendant’s answer, and the controversy in this ease is limited to said land claimed as right of way alone. The defendant admitting that the plaintiff has title to all of the lands described in said petition, except the lands held by it as a right of way and fully described in its original answer. * * * It is further agreed that the question of defendant’s right to improvements on the land in question, being the land claimed by it as a right of way in good faith, is not determined in this case, but that,- if the plaintiff shall finally recover the land in question, the defendants may thereafter make and assert any claims for such improvements as it could now make in this suit. It is further understood and agreed that the question of damage to that portion of the plaintiff’s land not taken for right of way is not adjudicated in this case, and that this agreement is made in order to shorten and simplify the record, and is to be incorporated in the statement of facts on appeal.”
On exceptions by appellee, the fifth clause of the answer was stricken out, and no evidence offered thereon. So this case depends for decision upon the action of the court in striking out said clause.
The district court had no power or jurisdiction, in condemnation proceedings, either to appoint the commissioners, receive their report, file it, or enter it of record. It could not entertain the appeal of either party, and therefore had no jurisdiction over the person or subject-matter. The Constitution or laws did not vest it with such power, and the judge of such court, assuming so to act in the appointment of commissioners, was exceeding his powers or rather assuming powers he did not have. If he had no such power, then his act was void. If void, it had no legal effect and was no order at all. It gave no right, and none could be obtained under it It neither binds nor bars any one. All acts performed under it and claims of right flowing out of it are void, and there *699 fore subject to attack, collaterally or direct, by any one.
Although the Constitution provided that two terms of court should be held in the several counties annually, it was said in the case of Doss v. Waggoner, 3 Tex. 515, the terms must be prescribed by law; and, if but one session is provided for, there is no power in the judiciary to order another in a manner not provided by the statute. In reviewing the judgments at a term ordered by the judge, the Supreme Court, in that ease, said: “There was in fact no court in session, and no judgments could by law have been pronounced, and consequently they are not only absolute nullities in the ordinary signification of the term, when applied to the judgments of courts having no jurisdiction over the subject-matter or the parties, but they are not even acts of the court, and therefore not susceptible of appeal or the subjects of revision in any appellate tribunal.” Campbell v. Chandler, 37 Tex. 32; Hunton v. Nichols, 55 Tex. 217; Carothers v. Wilkerson, 2 Willson, Civ. Cas. Ct. App. § 356; Schwartz v. Liberman, 2 Willson, Civ. Cas. Ct. App. § 289; Texas & Mexican Railway Co. v. Jarvis, 80 Tex. 456, 15 S. W. 1090, 1091; Nalle v. City of Austin, 101 Tex. 48, 104 S. W. 1050.
In the case of Lyons-Thomas Hardware Co. v. (Perry Stove Mfg. Co., 27 S. W. 109, Judge Brown, speaking - for the Supreme Court, said: “If, however, the court had not that power, the order would be void and would afford no protection to Harrison. He was bound to know the law and must act at his peril in the execution of a void order.” In that case the court, in vacation, appointed Harrison trustee at' the instance of certain preferred creditors and in certain deeds of trust. The Supreme Court, in that case, further said: “In this case the order which adjudged that the deeds of trust were valid and ordered the proceeds to be paid on preferred debts adjudicated in vacation the very matter in controversy. The statutes in this state do not vest the judges of the district courts with such authority, and the order was a nullity.”
The principles which underlie the question of courts de facto and those which- are without any binding force or effect may be found in that line of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, wherein the question arose as to courts which were created by the confederate Congress and which by that court were held to be nullities, and that they could exercise no rightful jurisdiction. Hickman v. Jones, 9 Wall. 197, 19 L. Ed. 551. “But on the other hand, if the insurrection authorities had no power to create, they had no power to destroy. By no act or proceedings could they strip a law *700 ful pre-existing tribunal of its powers and jurisdiction or terminate its existence. Their laws, being altogether void, had no effect whatever upon the courts which had been duly organized before the rebellion began.” White v. Cannon, 6 Wall. 443, 18 L. Ed. 923; Horn v. Lockhart, 17 Wall. 570, 21 L. Ed. 657. We think the question as to whether the commissioners were de facto officers is sufficiently answered by Judge Ramsey in the Oates Case, upon rehearing, 56 Tex. Cr. R. 571, 121 S. W. 376, and authorities therein cited.
The judgment is reformed, and, as reformed, will be affirmed. It is further ordered that the appellee pay all costs of this appeal.
Addendum
On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellant requests us to file conclusions of fact. This case was disposed of principally on the action of the trial court in sustaining exception to paragraph 5 of appellant’s answer. It was not discussed as *702 one of fact, but we will comply with the request, in so far as we can.
First. We adopt the conclusions, of fact made and filed by the trial court and brought up in the transcript. Second. We are requested in the first paragraph of the motion to find whether appellee agreed in writing that said commissioners need not serve him with process and might proceed to condemn the right of way through his land for the defendant. We find no evidence of any such written agreement in the record. We find that appellee states he was “subpoenaed” before the “board of condemnation,” and that he then appeared before them and “prosecuted that suit,” and waited for the termination of the same. His testimony is all there is in the record on that question. Third. Appellee protested vigorously to appellant going on his land. Appellant’s employs warned him he had better investigate “before trying to run the men off.” After talking with appellant’s attorney in the right of way proceeding, he permitted the work to proceed, “as he did not see that he could do more” at that time. Fourth. The evidence does not show that he knew under what authority the men acting as commissioners purported to be acting. There is no evidence that he agreed to them as commissioners to condemn his land, or that the district judge should appoint them, or that he knew they were so appointed. Fifth. He knew appellant went on his land, graded and completed its road across it, and operated trains over the road so constructed. This was done without his consent, against his wishes, and over his protest.
■ We do not think we are in conflict with the authorities of this state holding that the owner of land waives his right thereto who appears before a regularly constituted board of commissioners, duly appointed under the statute, as asserted by counsel for appellant. We hold that the parties acting under the appointment of the district judge in this case was not such a board of commissioners. Counsel assumes the very thing at issue; that is, whether the parties so acting were under the law a board of commissioners. This is the fundamental question in the case and an important one upon which rests the substantial rights of the parties to this suit. We think, unless it was a tribunal recognized by law from the decrees of which an appeal will lie, their action might result in an injustice to the owner of the land.
The cases cited by appellant are, as a rule, cases from the judgment of legally created courts, recognized as such by law. An appeal can be perfected therefrom and the rights of the parties fully and finally determined. There is reason and authority for holding, when a judge is selected, in a way not regular, to occupy a regularly constituted court under the Constitution and laws, that he will be regarded as a de facto officer; or when the parties may agree to a judge, if no formal agreement is made, or if they treat the judge so acting as one duly selected, they may by their acts be held to have agreed to him as such. But in this case the appellant alone had the right to condemn the land. It alone could institute proceedings and bring into existence the tribunal. The landowner is summarily compelled to surrender his land, and his only right is to ask that such tribunal be established that he may properly prosecute his claim and in which he can protect his interest. Hays v. Railway Co., 62 Tex. 400. His appearance is not a waiver of his right to call in question the judgment of such illegal tribunal in the only way granted him by law. Appellant alleges appellee was dissatisfied with the action of the commissioners and attempted to appeal, but failed in his appeal; doubtless for the good and sufficient reason he could not appeal from the judgment of a tribunal unknown to the law.
The motion is therefore overruled.
HENDRICKS, J., not sitting.
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