Booth v. Buras

104 La. 614
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 15, 1900
DocketNo. 13,369
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 104 La. 614 (Booth v. Buras) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Booth v. Buras, 104 La. 614 (La. 1900).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by Monroe, J.

Statement op the Case.

Monroe, J.

This action was brought in 1869 for the purpose of establishing the boundary between certain tracts of land owned by the plaintiff and defendants, respectively, and which were said to lie contiguous to eáeh other in the parish of Plaquemine. Since the filing of the suit, Wm. B. Booth has died, and is now represented herein by R. S. Booth, his universal legatee. Jean Pierre Buras, one of the original defendants, has also died, and his widow and heirs were made parties, but they have not appealed from the judgment which is here complained of, and are not now before the court. The present parties to the litigation are, therefore, R. S. Booth, plaintiff, and Cyprien Buras, defendant. It appears from the record, that, in December, 1794, Anthony de St. Maxent, formerly a captain in the Spanish service, pre[615]*615sented a petition to Baron de Carondelet, the Spanish Governor General of Louisiana, setting forth that he wished to establish a plantation on the Mississippi river, and asking for a grant of “the land lying between Bayou Liards and the one called Carenero, two leagues apart from each other, but containing only three arpents in depth good for cultivation”, with a reservation to the government of the land “in the middle of tins space”, occupied by, and surrounding, Fort Bourbon. And the grant was made and the laud “about two leagues from Bayou Liard to that of Carenero” ordered to be surveyed, though the particular survey made pursuant to this order, if any there w¡as, has not been produced for the purposes of this case. After the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States, the grant thus made was confirmed by commissioners, pursuant to authority conferred by an Act of Congress of 1807, in the following terms, to-wit:

“James Smith and Harris Hove claim a tract of land situated in the “ county of Orleans on the right bank of the Mississippi river contain- ing 6624 superficial arpents, and 584 toises, bounded on the upper “ side by Bayou Liard, and on the lower, by the Bayou Carenero. It “ appears that an order of survey for said land was duly issued by the “ Baron de Carondelet, in favor of Anthony de St. Maxent, from whom “ the claimants derive their title, dated the 14th of January, 1795, “ which the Board do hereby confirm, agreeably to the terms and conditions specified in the petition, reserving to the United States, the “ ground within two hundred toises, of Fort Bourbon.” ,

Thereafter, in 1847, a patent was issued, which, after referring to the grant to de St. Maxent and the confirmation to Smith and Hove, proceeds to recite that the claim in question has been- surveyed as containing 5575 41-100 acres “and has been designated as section thirty-“five in township twenty, South, of Eange thirty, East; and Section “ four in township twenty-one, South, of Eange thirty East, lying west “ of the Mississippi river”, etc., and makes the grant of “the sections of land above described”, excepting that reserved for the fort, etc. And it is under this title that the plaintiff claims.

The title of the defendant, upon the other hand, to so much of the land claimed by him, as is said to lie contiguous to that claimed by the plaintiff, to-wit: fractional sections 32, 33 and 34 in township twenty, South, of Eange thirty, East, traces back to a patent issued by the State of Louisiana to Effingham Lawrence in 1855, based upon a warrant issued on the authority of an Act of the Legislature of March 17, 1852; whilst the title to the remaining lots claimed by the defendant [616]*616traces back to a United States patent issued in 1844; the whole tract claimed by defendant having been acquired by him immediately from his co-deféndant, Jean Pierre Buras, by an act of sale, dated Eeb. 2, 1866, which describes, and undertakes to identify the property as follows, to-wit:

“ 1st. Lots, or fractional sections Nos. 32, 33 and 34 in township) “ No. twenty, South, of range No. thirty, East, in the South Eastern “land district of Louisiana, West of the Mississippi river, containing “ by estimation one hundred and twenty-two superficial acres, according “ to the official plat of the survey of said lands, returned in the State “Land Office of this State.”
“2nd. Lots, .or sections Two and Three in township twenty-one, “ West of the Mississippi river, of range thirty, East, in the district of “ land, subject to sale at New Orleans, La., containing 60 acres, and “ 84-100 of an acre, according to the official plat of the survey of the “ said lands, returned to the General Land Office by the Surveyor Gen- “ eral.”
“ 3rd. Lot No. One in township No. Twenty-one, of range thirty- “ one, East, in the district of land subject to sale at New Orleans, La., “ according to the official plat of the survey of the said lands, returned “ to the General Land Office by the Surveyor General, and which all “ said lots or sections herein conveyed form a front of forty arpents on the Mississippi river, as the whole is set down on the survey of said “ lands, made by Hawke, civil engineer, on the 2nd and 3rd of Novem- “ ber, 1866, and hereunto annexed for reference.”

In 1869, when Wm. B. Booth brought this action, the defendants, Jean Pierre, and Cyprien Buras, filed an answer, in which they denied the allegation that they had refused to allow the boundary to be established extra-judicially, and from which we make the following extract: “ They, on the contrary, positively aver as follows, to-wit':on the twenty- “ fourth day of October, 1866, and at the request of Jean Pierre Buras, “ a civil engineer and sworn surveyor of the State, to-wit, Maurice “ Hawke” (was employed, and) “the said Wm. B. Booth, plaintiff herein, “ was personally notified in writing that on Monday the 29th of October, “1866, the said surveyor would proceed to survey said lands, and fix “ the boundaries thereof. Pursuant to said notice, served as aforesaid “ on said Booth, and to said request of Jean Pierre Buras, the said “ surveyor on the 29th of October, 1866, repaired to said place, and “ then and there performed his work, which lasted five days, to-wit, the “ 29th, 30th and 31st of 'October, and the 2nd and 3rd days of Novem- [617]*617“ ber, 1866. That the said Booth, although duly notified as aforesaid “ to be present, did not judge proper to appear, nor to send anybody “ then and there to represent him, to make opposition thereto, said sur- “ veyor consequently went on with his said operation in the presence “ of two witnesses, called for that purpose — made also in their presence “ his proces verbal thereof, which they signed with him, and made a “ record of his proceedings, and of the plan drawn by him, as more fully “ appears from a duly certified copy of said proces verbal, hereunto an- “ nexed and made a part of this petition, and of the plan deposited in “ the recorder’s office of this parish, which will be produced, if neces- “ sary, on the day of trial. Eespondents further aver, that under said “ circumstances, said plaintiff has no other course to pursue, except to “ask for a ratification of said operation, if he thinks it proper for his “ interest, but not to institute a suit to pray for a survey and fixing of “ boundaries which has' already been made, in accordance with the “ requisites of law.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Christina v. Gautreaux
12 Teiss. 357 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 La. 614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/booth-v-buras-la-1900.