Roberts v. Hart
Roberts v. Hart
Opinion of the Court
Findings of Fact.
The following map will aid-in understanding the facts in this case:
owner of a portion of the Del Valle grant, including the land indicated by the above map. April 12, 1852, Horton executed to Hugh Tinnin a'deed to 400 acres of the land described as follows: “That certain tract or *475 parcel of land lying and Being situated in the county of Travis on the west bank of the Colorado river below the city of Austin, being part of the 11-league grant made by the government of Coahuila and Texas to Santiago del Valle and described according to the survey made thereof as' follows, to wit: Beginning at a stake set on the extremity of the sand bar of the Colorado river at the foot of the high river bottom, and corner made for Mrs. Chalmers, from which a cluster of willow trees brs. S. 36 W. 4 vrs.; thenc^ up the river with the meanders W. 400 vrs.; S. 60 W. 343 vrs. a stake and mound at the head of a sand bar, from which a sycamore 10 in. dia. marked X brs. S. 17 W. 13 vi;s., and an elm 10 in. dia. marked If brs. S. 43 W. 20 vrs.; thence S. 30 W. 3,220 vrs. to a stone mound in a flat about 10 vrs. below the junction of two drains; thence S. 60 E. 689 vrs. stake in the bank of a drain and corner of Mrs. Chalmers tract, from which a double elm marked H. brs. N. 18 W. 12 vrs.; thence N. 30 - 3,420 vrs., with said Mrs. Chalmers tract, to the place of beginning, containing in all 400 acres.”
It is apparent from the face of this deed that the closing call, “N. 30 - 3,420 vrs. with said Chalmers tract to the place of beginning,” was intended to read “N. 30 E.,” as no other course would lead to the beginning, whether such beginning be at the place claimed by appellant or at the place claimed by appellee. It is also apparent that the second call, “S. 60 W. 343 vrs.,” was intended to be “N. 60 W.,” as “N. 60 W.,” the distance called for, will balance both the northings and southings and the eastings and westings, while the call “S. 60 W.” gives an excess of 343 vrs. in the southings. That is to say, if the third corner mentioned in the field notes, and which is identified by the elm tree called for, be taken as the beginning corner, and the survey be run from thence, courses and distances as called for in the field notes, the last line, “S. 60 W.,” as called for in the field notes, will reach a point 343 vrs. due south of the beginning point, and not on any line of the survey; whereas, if such line be run- “N. 60 W.,” the distance called for in the field notes, it will reach the assumed beginning corner at the elm tree.
The issue in this case is as to whether or not the deed above set out includes the land in controversy. If so, the judgment of the trial court should be reversed; if not, the judgment should be affirmed.
Appellee claims under a deed made by A. G. Horton to James B. Shaw and Jas. H. Matthews September 1, 1856, wherein is conveyed: “That certain tract or parcel of land lying on the Colorado river below the city of Austin, in said county of Travis, being all the land binding immediately upon the west bank of the Colorado river not heretofore sold by me and not embraced within the true lines of any surveys heretofore made for the tracts of land owned by Hugh Tinnin, Dennis Walsh, the heirs of Mrs. Chalmers and Thomas E. Chapman, and in fact including, all the land that may be vacant on said west side of the river, commencing at the lower corner of a tract owned by Samuel Stone, and running thence down the river with its meanders to the lower corner of said Horton survey as designated in the field notes thereof on the Colorado river, and including all the islands in the river rightfully belonging to the said Horton survey and lying between the points above expressed.”
If, however, the land described in this deed, and marked “sand bar” on the above map, was included in the prior deed from Horton to Tinnin, the grantees obtained no title, and appellant, as one of the heirs of Tinnin, is entitled to recover in this suit. Appellee by mesne conveyances became the owner of the Shaw and Matthews title to the lower half of the “sand bar” tract, and Mrs. Tinnin, the mother of Mrs. Roberts, in 1878 purchased the Shaw and Matthews title to the upper half of the “sand bar tract.” The Shaw and Matthews title has never been called in question by Tinnin or his heirs until after this suit was filed, which was originally a suit for a right of way by necessity.
If a survey be begun at the original north- ’ west corner of the Tinnin tract, marked on the map “elm tree,” and run thence S. 30 W. 3,220 vrs. as called for in the Tinnin field notes, and thence S. 60 E. 708.9 vrs. an excess of 19.9 vrs., the original southeast corner of the Tinnin tract will be reached; thence N. 30 E. 3,420 vrs. as called for in the Tinnin field notes will reach the top of the slough bank; continuing 33 varas will reach the opposite side of the slough and the edge of the sand bar, the point- marked on the map “iron pin at willow tree”; thence west 423 vrs. and N. 60 W. 343 vrs. will follow the course of the slough and sand bar, and close the survey at the elm tree corner. If the line from the southeast corner of the Tinnin tract be continued to the river,'there will be an excess in this line of about 943 vrs., and,’ if from the point thus reached the meanders of the river be followed to the point on the river coincident with the extension of the west line of the Tinnin tract, this point will be 278.3 vrs. N. 30 E. of the elm tree corner, and there will be an excess in the aggregate length of the calls for the north line of the Tinnin tract of about 440 vrs.
From these facts we find, as a fact, that the northeast corner of the Tinnin tract is at the iron pin at the willow tree; that the Tinnin deed does not include the sand bar tract, but that the division line between the Tinnin tract and the sand bar tract is, as found by the trial court, beginning at said iron pin, and running thence west 423 vrs. and N. 60 W. 343 vrs. to the elm tree corner.
Opinion.
Though there be no apparent ambiguity upon the face of the grant, at what particular place the calls locate the grant can be ascertained only by parol evidence. For instance, a patent to a section of land may call for natural or artificial monuments at each of its corners. Whether or not those monuments can be found and identified and, if so, whether the lines located by such monuments include the land in controversy cannot be told by reading the grant, but only from the oral testimony of those who know the facts; hence testimony as to such facts is always admissible. The lines of a survey as originally run are its boundaries as a matter of law, but where such lines are is a matter of fact to be ascertained by oral testimony showing the application of the calls in the grant to the facts found on the ground. Bolton v. Lann, 16 Tex. 112; Bass v. Mitchell, 22 Tex. 294; Douthit v. Robinson, 55 Tex. 69; Bently v. Napier, 122 S. W. 182; Colcord v. Alexander, 67 Ill. 583; Reamer v. Nesmith, 34 Cal. 626; Strickland v. Draughan, 88 N. C. 317; Greeley v. Weaver (Me.) 13 Atl. 575.
Finding no error of record, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ROBERTS Et Al. v. HART
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- 11 cases
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