Clegg v. Jones
Clegg v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs do not rest their claim for an injunction on the ground that the diggings worked by the defendants were upon the same range as that upon which the diggings of the plaintiffs were situated. In the complaint, this was stated as one ground of relief; and it was alleged, among other things, that the lead ores which the defendants had taken and carried away, or which they threatened to take and were about to carry away, were taken from a range which was connected with and formed a part of the plaintiffs’ dis
This was an equitable action, and the finding of the jury upon all questions of fact cannot have the same conclusive effect as in actions at law. Gill v. Rice, 13 Wis., 549. The verdict of the jury is merely to enlighten the conscience of the chancellor. Johnson v. Johnson, 4 Wis., 135. We have
The principal evidence adduced to prove this exclusive right was the testimony of the plaintiff Samuel Clegg. He details the circumstances attending the making of the parol lease, and even attempts to give the very words used by Vivian when he made it. Clegg had been mining upon the forty-acre tract for some years, and had made a valuable discovery of mineral thereon. He says, in substance, that on the 24th of June, 1873, he went to see Vivian and to pay rent due. He then stated to Vivian something about trespassers, and current reports that a party of men were coming upon the north part of this forty, between the plaintiffs’ shaft or diggings and Glandville’s fence; stated that the plaintiffs were then paying out, for men, wages and .materials, about $500 per month; that it looked hard that men should come and head the plaintiffs off that way, especially as Vivian had previously granted him, the witness, full permission, and had said to him that no one should come north or south of him on these diggings to interfere with witness in any shape. In reply to these remarks, Yivian said: “ Old man, rest satisfied, there is no one shall come on that land between Johnson Glandville’s fence and you, nor east of you, north, south, east or west of you.” This is the substance of the testimony in regard to the terms of the parol lease granting an exclusive right to mine on the north part of the tract. And while it is slightly corroborated by other testimony given on the part of the plaintiffs, yet, upon the most favorable construction which can be placed upon it, it fails to establish the exclusive right claimed. The language is loose, vague, uncertain and indeterminate in its meaning. When considered in connection with the other evidence, more especially the testimony of Yiv-
If this exclusive right had been established by clear, definite and unequivocal proof, we should then have to determine whether the parol lease wmuld be valid under the statute of frauds. In Ganter v. Atkinson, 35 Wis., 48, by an oral agreement the owner of certain lands gave the plaintiffs the right to enter thereon for mining purposes, and the exclusive right to mine in or upon the same, and to take any ores therefrom, for a certain rent in kind. The lease was upheld as a lease for one year. But there the lease was of particular ground, described by metes and bounds. If, in this case, the parol lease of an exclusive right had been proven, as claimed by the plaintiffs, the question would arise, whether it would be renewed from time to time by payment of rent. But as the case stands, no such question is before us. Nor do we see that ch. 260, Laws of 1860, and the amendatory act (ch. 137, Laws of 1872), affects the case.
By the Court. — The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause is remanded with directions to dismiss the complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Clegg and others v. Jones and others
- Status
- Published