Baxter & Co. v. Mattox

32 S.E. 94, 106 Ga. 344, 1898 Ga. LEXIS 94
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedDecember 23, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 32 S.E. 94 (Baxter & Co. v. Mattox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baxter & Co. v. Mattox, 32 S.E. 94, 106 Ga. 344, 1898 Ga. LEXIS 94 (Ga. 1898).

Opinion

Lewis, J.

1. It is insisted by counsel for plaintiffs in error that the plaintiff below, in his application for injunction, did not proceed according to the' provisions of § 4927 of the Civil Code; and that, no insolvency of the defendants and no irreparable damages being shown, the injunction should have been denied. It was manifestly the intention on the part of the petitioner to bring his case within the provisions of the section above cited, which declares: “In all applications to enjoin the cutting of timber for sawmill purposes, etc., it shall not be necessary to aver or prove insolvency, or that the damages will be irreparable.” It is true there is not attached to the petition an abstract of title as required by that section. The petition,, however, alleges that both plaintiff and defendants claim under a common grantor, the defendants under a lease which had expired, and that therefore it ivas unnecessary to attach an abstract of title. The answer denied the title of the plaintiff and alleged a perfect title in the defendants. It seems upon the issue thus made the case ivas heard before the judge. It nowhere appears in the record that any objection was made to the plaintiff’s petition for want of sufficiency, or that the respondents ever urged that the injunction should not he granted on account of this defect in the petition. It is true the court could not have ¡oassed upon a formal demurrer to the petition in vacation, but the grounds of such demurrer could have been urged in the answer as a 'reason why the application should have been refused. But had the question been presented to the court, and the contention of plaintiffs in error been sustained, ass it doubtless would have been, the defect complained of could readily have been cured by amendment. It is fair, from the record before us, to treat this technical defect as having been waived by the plaintiffs in error on the hearing below. It should at least have appeared that such a question was presented to the trial judge, before we would be authorized to reverse his judgment simply on account of an amendable defect in the plaintiff’s pleadings; especially in view of the fact that the [349]*349plaintiff presented and introduced in evidence a complete chain of title to the land, and no point was made on the trial below that he failed to attach an abstract of the -papers before the judge to his petition.

2. It appears from the record that all the lands involved in this litigation originally belonged to H. A. and H. P. Mattox. On September 27, 1881, they conveyed to one Reppard all the timber, logs, and growing trees, suitable for sawmill purposes and being manufactured into lumber upon certain lots of land, describing the same by number, 'district and county. In this deed there was no limitation as to the time in which the grantee, or his heirs and assigns, should have a right to use the timber designated. On the same day a conveyance was made by Ii. A. and H. P. Mattox to Reppard to timber on certain other lots of land, and directly following the granting clause was this sentence: “This lease to expire ten years from the time said Reppard begins cutting said timber.” On January 23,1883, there was a like conveyance between the same parties to timber on other lots of land, described in like manner, and following the granting clause was the statement: “ And it is hereby covenanted, understood, and agreed by and between the parties to this indenture, that the party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, are limited to the period of ten years time in which to cut and remove the timber, logs, and trees, suitable for sawmill purposes or being manufactured into lumber, upon the lots of land aforesaid, from the time they commence to cut and remove the same therefrom.” The injunction was refused as to the property described in the deed first mentioned above, but was granted as to that described in the last two deeds ;■ and to this granting of the injunction the defendants except. It is insisted by counsel for plaintiffs in error, that the clauses imposing limitations upon the right of the defendants, to cut timber, in the last two deeds referred to, are repugnant to the operative words of the grant, and that therefore the former words should prevail, and the limitation clause should be treated as of no effect at all. § 3607 of the Civil Code provides: “If two clauses in a deed be utterly inconsistent, the former must prevail, but the intention of the parties, from the whole instru[350]*350ment, should, if possible, be ascertained and carried into effect.’” Applying this cardinal rule of intention of the parties as indicated by the terms used in these instruments, we do not think there is any difficulty in arriving at their proper construction.. The limitation clause was manifestly intended as an addendum or proviso to the granting clause that had just preceded it. There is no utter and irreconcilable inconsistency between the-two clauses. Construing the first clause alone, and in the light, of what follows, it was not a conveyance of a fee-simple title to land, but a mere grant of a license to use timber growing thereon for certain purposes. Even if there had been no limitation, fixed as to how long this right should be exercised, from the-nature of the grant it was obliged to terminate at some time,, though indefinite, for it certainly would have ended when all the timber had been cut. Now the clause that follows limits- and qualifies the granting clause, and, expressly and definitely fixes the time which would otherwise have been indefinite as to when the lease was to expire. In the case of Hwie-v. McDaniel,. 105 Ga., it appeared that the granting clause, of a deed from a father to his daughter, construed and considered alone, and not in connection with the clauses that followed, convéyed an absolute fee-simple estate to the daughter. In the habendum clause of that deed, following the granting clause, were included, the names of the daughter’s two children,, as grantees. It was there decided that the whole instrument should be construed together, sc as to give effect, if possible, to the entire deed, and ascertain from all its terms the real intention of the parties;, that the granting clause was modified by the words in the habendum clause, and that an estate in common was conveyed to the daughter and the other two persons named.. The authorities cited in the opinion rendered in that, case, apply, if possible, with much more force to the present case; for in this, case there is much less reason to invoke the doctrine of repugnancy. Construing the entire instrument as a whole, there-can be no question that the real intention of the parties was to-limit this lease to a period of ten years from the time the lessee: commenced to exercise his rights thereunder by cutting the timber; and this period having expired, before the filing of this, [351]*351petition, the plaintiffs in error clearly had no intesest, in the - property by virtue of their lease under which they claimed title..

3. It was further insisted by counsel for plaintiffs in error,, that, the lands being described severally, the license was several.-, as to each lot, and the exercise of the license upon one lot could not be construed as extending to another tipon.which the licensee ■ had not in fact entered. The cáse of Barber v. Shaffer, 76 Ga.

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Bluebook (online)
32 S.E. 94, 106 Ga. 344, 1898 Ga. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baxter-co-v-mattox-ga-1898.