Weir v. Van Bibber
Weir v. Van Bibber
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of trespass to try title. About seventeen hundred and ninety-six acres of land are the subject of controversy.
Van Bibber derives title from the State; his patents were issued in the year 1853.
The plaintiff in error claims title to the land under an older grant, known as the Uranga grant, dated in 1834, and calling for eleven leagues of land, within which leagues it is claimed the lands in controversy are situated.
There is no question about the validity of the Uranga grant, other than that it is claimed that it was so imperfectly described in the calls that it could not he identified.
It is necessary'to the validity of an entry that it should be made with such certainty and precision that the adjacent lands remaining vacant may be located without confusion of the boundaries. (Johnson v. Pannel, 2 Wheaton, 208; Shipp v. Miller, Id., 325; Garnet v. Jenkins, 9 Wheaton, 75; Lewis v. Durst, 10 Texas, 415; Welder v. Carroll, 29 Texas, 317.)
The question of potice was properly submitted to the jury. Whether the boundary lines of' the Uranga grant were so defined as to notify the public of their location was the main question of fact the jury was called on to settle.
It was a question for the court whether lodging the testimonio of the grant in the General Land Office; operated as constructive notice, or not; and whether it should not be recorded in the county where the lands were situated. In Gilbeau v. Mays, et al.,
We think the court erred in its conclusions and instructions as to the vagueness, and uncertainty of the evidence. If by meandering the Medio and Blanco creeks, it had been found that the surveyors, Giraud, Cash, Tulley and McKenney, had ascertained the point and the only point at which a line two miles in length would cut the waters of both streams, it should have been left to the jury to determine whether the Uranga grant had been marked by this line. The testimony may be uncertain and doubtful, but we think it should be passed upon by the jury; and the charge of the court, in virtually withdrawing the evidence irom the jury, we can but regard as erroneous.
The judgment is therefore reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James Weir v. John Van Bibber
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- I. ft is necessary to the validity'of an- entry of land that it be made with such certainty and precision that the- adjacent lands, remaining vacanty can^be- located without-confusion of the boundaries. Whether the lodging of a testimonio itt the General Land, Office operated'as constructive notice of the grant, or whether it should have been recorded ib the county where the lands were situated, were questions oí law and for the determination- of the court. 3. That evidence adduced for the purpose of proving the locality of a grant . was uncertain and indeterminate- in its character was not a- sufficient reason for excluding it from the consideration of the jury, if it tended to-establish the issue-