Wickizer v. Williams
Wickizer v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit in trespass to try title, brought by appellee against appellant to recover title and possession of 160 acres of land out of the P. Hunter survey in Montgomery county, based upon the 10-year statute of limitation. Appellant answered by plea of not guilty, and also asserted that ap-pellee was his tenant, which fact was denied by appellee. A jury trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in behalf of appellee, from which this "appeal is prosecuted.
It is contended by the first and second assignments of error on the part of appellant that the court erred in refusing to give a special charge directing a verdict in his favor, on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence to warrant a judgment for appellee. Appellee objects to the consideration of these assignments for the reason that the refusal to give such charge was not excepted to at the time of the trial, as required by the Acts of the 33d Legislature, pp. 113, 114, for which reason we think we might refuse to consider said assignments. Waiving this, however, we hold that said charge was properly refused because, in our judgment, the evidence was sufficient as to each of the issues raised to require the submission of the case to the jury. Wherefore said assignments are overruled.
By the first proposition under the fourth assignment, it is complained that, in submitting the case to the jury, the court instructed them that a verdict might be returned for plaintiff, without requiring the jury to believe that the possession was continuous for a period of 10 years. This objection is not tenable, because, taking the charge as a whole, it does require the jury to believe that the possession must have been continuous for a period of 10 years before they could find for appellee. And, further, taken as a whole, the charge did not authorize a verdict for the appellee, as contended by appellant, without reference to what might be the finding of the jury as to his occupying the land as appellant’s tenant, because the court did, at the instance of appellant, instruct the jury that, if he (appellee) had occupied the land as the tenant of appellant, then they should find for appellant.
“You are further charged in this case that if you believe from the evidence that plaintiff had possession of the land and occupied the land in question, cultivating, using, and enjoying the same by himself and tenants for 10 consecutive years prior to the filing of this suit, but you should further believe that thereafter the plaintiff acknowledged himself to be the tenant of the defendant, either in writing or verbally, you will only consider such acknowledgment of tenancy, if any, as bearing upon the nature of plaintiff’s prior possession; that is, whether the same was adverse to defendant or not.”
This furnishes the basis for the fifth assignment. This charge, we think, was proper, because if an acknowledgment of tenancy is made after the completion of the bar of the statute, as appears from the evidence here, then the court should, we think, limit the effect of such acknowledgment to the question of the character of such prior possession; that is to say, as to whether the same was adverse or not. Such admission could not defeat a title already acquired. See Barrett v. McKinney, 93 S. W. 240; Williams v. Rand, 9 Tex. Civ. App. 631, 30 S. W. 511; Williams v. City of Galveston, 58 S. W. 552; Bruce v. Washington, 80 Tex. 368, 15 S. W. 1104; Thayer v. Clark, 47 Tex. Civ. App. 61, 104 S. W. 196.
“As attorney for the plaintiff he brought the suit, presented the exceptions to the plea in abatement, prosecuted 'and recovered in the plaintiff’s name on the entire cause of action, and appears for him in this court, and asks that the judgment be affirmed. We think this is equivalent to formal consent that the 'entire cause of action should be litigated in the plaintiff’s name. As a general rule, an attorney is not bound by a judgment rendered for or against his client. But when it is suggested, in the proper manner, that he has an interest in the cause of action, and ought to be made a party, and the attorney, although claiming to act for his client, objects to the course being taken which would result in his becoming a formal party, and urges the court to proceed and try the case as it stands, then, when the court- proceeds as he requests, and litigates the entire cause of action, he ought to be held as individually consenting that the judgment shall determine his rights as well as those of his client.”
See, also, 2 Black on Judg. §§ 539-541; Bomar v. Ft. Worth Bldg. Ass’n, 20 Tex. Civ. App. 603, 49 S. W. 914.
“Accordingly, it has been held, upon great consideration, that a conviction and sentence for a felony in one of the United States did not render the party incompetent as a witness in the courts of another state, though it might be shown in diminution of the credit due to this testimony.” 1 Greenl. (15th Ed.) § 376. Nor will it render a juror incompetent unless the statute so provides.
In 24 Oyc. subd. 6, p. 198, discussing this question, it is said:
“At common law a conviction of a felony was a disqualification to serve as a juror, and under the statute in some jurisdictions a juror is disqualified if he has been convicted of certain crimes, is at the time under indictment, or has within a certain time been indicted of an offense of the same character as that charged against the accused. The disqualification applies, although the conviction was prior to the enactment of the provisions making it a disqualification. But, unless the statute so provides, a conviction in one state does not disqualify a *291 person to serve as a juror in another” — citing Queenan v. Territory, 11 Okl. -261, 71 Pac. 218, 61 L. R. A. 824.
Continuing, it is said:
“An absolute pardon removes the disqualification to act as a juror imposed by the statutes providing that persons convicted of certain crimes shall be disqualified.”
In support of the text, we find cited Easterwood v. State, 34 Tex. Cr. R. 400, 31 S. W. 294; U. S. v. Bassett, 5 Utah, 131, 13 Pac. 237; Puryear v. Commonwealth, 83 Va. 51, 1 S. E. 512.
The exact question here presented was raised and determined adversely to appellant’s contention in the case of Easterwood v. State, supra, wherein it was held that an absolute pardon removes disability and entitles the party to serve as a juror in this, state. Believing that the juror was competent by reason of the pardon which restored his citizenship, we overrule this contention.
We have fully considered the remaining assignments and regard them without merit.
Finding no reversible error in the proceedings of the trial court, its judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
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