Arabie v. Terrebonne

69 So. 2d 516, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 905
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 18, 1953
DocketNo. 3769
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 69 So. 2d 516 (Arabie v. Terrebonne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arabie v. Terrebonne, 69 So. 2d 516, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 905 (La. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

ELLIS, Judge.

Plaintiffs, the owners of the following described property-:

A certain tract of land situated in the Parish of Lafourche, State of Louisiana, at about 19 miles below the Town of Thibodaux, on the' right descending bank of Bayou Lafourche; measuring 135 feet more or less front by a depth of 40 arpents; bounded above by.lands of Leonce Robichaux, now or formerly, and below by lands of Robert Dupuis, now or formerly, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon or thereto appertaining,

filed this action in boundary against the defendant who. owned a contiguous tract of land described as follows:

A certain tract of land situated in the Parish of Lafourche, State of Lousi-ana, on the right descending bank of Bayou Lafourche, about 19 miles below the Town of Thibodaux, measuring one arpent in width on said Bayou La-fourche by a depth of 40 arpents; bounded above by property of Alex Arabie and below by property of Willie Pierce, now or formerly, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon.

Plaintiffs’ suit is based upon an alleged fact that the contiguous tracts, of land never had their boundaries determined, either judicially or extrajudicially, and that any such boundary lines which may have been established are now obliterated, and that there has never been a conventional boundary agreement.

The defendant denied the facts upon which plaintiffs base their suit and alleged that there had been a visible boundary between the properties being a fence, which [518]*518was constructed about 1905 and by a survey in 1933, and the defendant therefore plead prescription of 10 and 30 years.

Pursuant to plaintiffs’ petition the Court appointed a surveyor who in accordance with the order made the survey and it is filed in evidence.

After trial of the case, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendant, fixing and establishing the boundary in accordance with the procés verbal and map of the surveyor and overruling defendant’s prescriptive plea of 10 and 30 years, from which judgment defendant has appealed.

Plaintiffs’ suit was filed under authority of Article 823 of the LSA-Civil Code which is as follows:

“When two estates or lands contiguous, in cities or in the country, have never been separated, or have never had their boundaries determined, or if the bounds, which have been formerly fixed, are no longer to be seen, each of the owners of the contiguous estates has a right to compel the other to fix the limits of their respective properties.”

The defendant has plead 30 years prescription under Article 852 of the LSA-Civil Code, to-wit:

“Whether the titles, exhibited by the parties, whose lands are to be limited, consist of primitive concessions or other acts by which property may be transferred, if it be proved that the person whose title is of the latest date, or those under whom he holds, have enjoyed, in good or bad faith, uninterrupted possession during thirty years, of any quantity of land beyond that mentioned in his title, he will be permitted to' retain it, and his neighbor, though he have a more ancient title, will only have a right to' the excess; for if one can not prescribe against his own title, he can prescribe beyond his title or for more than it calls for, provided it be by thirty years possession”,

and 10, years prescription under Article 853 of the LSA-Civil Code, to-wit:

“If the boundaries have been fixed according to a common title, or according to different titles, and the surveyor had committed an error in his measure, it can always be rectified, unless the part of the land on which the error was committed, be acquired by an adverse possession of ten years, if the parties are present, and twenty years, if absent.”

The answer and the defenses set up therein are dependent upon the facts, as the law is well settled that an action in boundary lies only if there has been no sep-eration of the property judicially or extra-judicially or by agreement. LSA-C.C. art. 823 supra; Crow v. Braley, La.App., 47 So.2d 357; Selfe v. Travis, La.App., 29 So.2d 786; Griffin v. Mahoney, La.App., 56 So.2d 208; Opdenwyer v. Brown, 155 La. 617, 99 So. 482.

It is also well settled that prescription of ten years applies in a boundary action if there has been a prior determination by a surveyor in accordance with Article 833 of the LSA-Civil Code and consecutive articles, applicable thereto. Barker v. Houssiere-Latreille Oil Co., 160 La. 52, 106 So. 672; Pan American Production Co. v. Robichaux, 200 La. 666, 8 So.2d 635; Conrad v. Roussell, La.App., 37 So.2d 449.

The prescription of 30 years applies in a boundary action when a boundary between contiguous estates has been established and has existed by visible markers for a period of more than 30 years, and such visible boundary will not be changed despite the failure to accord with the ideal or perfect boundary. Opdenwyer v. Brown, supra; Latiolais v. Robert, La. App., 8 So.2d 347; Henly v. Kask, La.App., 11 So.2d 230; Broussard v. Winn, La.App., 41 So.2d 486.

The record shows that the property of plaintiffs and defendant forms a [519]*519part of a tract known as Buckhorn Plantation and described as being 7 arpents frontage on Bayou Lafourche by 40 ar-pents in depth. The map prepared by the surveyor under order of the Court shows that the rear line of the Buckhorn Plantation is much shorter than the front. The defendant contends, however, that his title must be interpreted as being 1 arpent front by 40 arpents in depth between parallel lines, and therefore one arpent in width on the rear. Such a contention is not borne out by the map nor the complete abstract of title on file in the record. Not only does the map show an irregular piece of ground with the rear much narrower than the front, which was subdivided and sold to various parties, but a common ancestor in titles, Simon Abraham. Many of the old titles show that this property was narrower in the rear than in the front. For example, in 1897 F. Gustin Gaude sold to Simon Abraham two pieces of property from one of which the plaintiffs and defendant’s property is a part, viz.:

“1st. A certain tract of land situated in the Parish of Lafourche, on the right bank of Bayou Lafourche, at about 20 miles below the town of Thibodaux, measuring about 3 ar-pents front by 40 arpents deep', closing towards the rear, being a portion of what was formerly known as the Buck-horn Plantation, the portion being herein bounded above by lands now or formerly of Cyprien Guidroz and below by other subdivision of said Buckhorn Plantation sold to Philip Calato.
“2nd. Another tract of land situated in the Parish of Lafourche, on the right bank of the Bayou Lafourche at about 20 miles below the Town of Thi-bodaux, measuring about 4 arpents and two-thirds front by 40 arpents deep closing towards the rear, being also a portion of what was formerly known as the ‘Buckhorn’ Plantation, said portion being bounded above by a subdivision of the said ‘Buckhorn’ Plantation sold to .William Pierce and below by lands of Raymond Plaisance.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 So. 2d 516, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 905, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arabie-v-terrebonne-lactapp-1953.