Clamorgan v. Baden & St. Louis Railway Co.

72 Mo. 139
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided October 15, 1880·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Napton, J.

This is an action of ejectment for a smal, lot of ground on the Bellefontaine road lying within United States survey 728. The case depends upon the construction of two documents, the one purporting to be a cession or relinquishment of all title in the claim of Jacques Clamorgan on the Gingras by Pierre Chouteau and wife, acknowledged and recorded November 8th, 1810, and the other a deed dated June 26th, 1810, whereby Clamor[140] gan conveyed to Chouteau 400 arpens in superficies in the same tract above referred to, bounding it on the south by Joseph Hebert, on the north by himself, fronting on the east sixteen arpens running north and south, and on the west twenty-four arpens running north and south, “by a quantity of twenty arpens in depth from east to west, that is to say, from the river Gingras to the hills.” In 1798 Clamorgan obtained a concession of 800 arpens of land at the Ruisseau A’Bechame, which empties into the Gingras, describing it as twenty arpens by forty, lying between the river Gingras and the hills. Governor Trudeau had before him a plat of the land furnished by the petitioner, and ordered a survey, which, however, was not made by the surveyor, Mackay, until 1806, two years after the change of government. In 1807 the United States Board of Commissioners confirmed this claim of Clamorgan to 800 arpens of land, “situate as aforesaid, provided so much may be found vacant there; and ordered the same to be surveyed, so as to include his improvements, and so as not to interfere with the surveys of Helen St. Cyr and children, Antoine, Yin cent and Bouis, or Jacinto St. Cyr and Narcisse St. Cyr.” The survey of Mackay showed that the claim of Clamorgan encroached on the northwest into the St. Cyr confirmation 290 arpens, and on the southwest did not extend to the St. Cyr claims, so that there was a piece of ground on the southwest, by stopping at the end of twenty arpens from the southeast corner, which was apparently vacant. The United States survey, made in 1817, by Rector, (numbered 728,) and-that of Cozens made by order of the court in the trial of this case, fixed the southwest corner of the Clamorgan tract at a point in the hills on the line of the St. Cyr claim five arpens further west than the Mackay survey, or twenty-five arpens from the southeast corner, instead of twenty. The survey of the land granted by Clamorgan to Chouteau .in 1810, followed this Rector survey, and if it was a coi’rect exposition of the deed, the plaintiffs obviously had no claim, as it [141] embraced the entire south end of the Clamorgan confirmation. The correctness of this survey is the main question in the case.

1. deed: deseription by reference to another deed, It is true that if we regard the deed from Chouteau to Clamorgan of November 8th, 1810, as too indefinite to convey any specific tract of land, this question is . ° A . ■ A , . unimportant. This deed, m the original, reads thus:

Nous soussigpes pour valeur recue, cédons, quittons, vendons et transportons & M. Jacques Clamorgan, sans aueune garantie ni recours quelconques, le morceau de terre mentionné et décrit en la vente des autres parts (A) avec tous les droits, titres, actions et prétentions que nous y avons. Signé et scehé ces presentes en la ville et District de St. Louis, ce Six Novembre mil-huit cent dix.Ladite terre énregistree livre B, page 353 et suivante (sur lequel morceau de terre le S. Clamorgan nous a vendu une partie).

Pierre Chouteau, [seal.]

Saucier Chouteau, [seal.]*

The sheriff’s deed to Chouteau, dated July 10th, 1809, conveyed to Chouteau “ all the right, title, interest and property which said Jacques Clamorgan had or possessed in and to a certain tract or parcel of land,'lying or being on the river Gingras in the same district and bounded by lands of Joseph Hebert, Hyacinthe St. Cyr and Vincent.”

The intent of the parties to these conveyances is obvious. Chouteau agreed with Clamorgan that 400 arpens of the land conveyed to him by the sheriff would satisfy [142] his judgment, and, therefore, upon Glamorgan’s conveying to him 400 arpens he would relinquish all title to what remained of the concession which had been conveyed to him by the sheriff’s deed. The confirmation had already been recognized by the United States government, though the only survey then made was that by Mackay in 1806. Chouteau had, at the date of this deed or about that time, conveyed this 400 arpens to Beaufils and Lebeau, and his object was to give back to Clamorgan all the confirmation not embraced in his deeds to Lebeau and Beaufils. The words “ cedons, quittons, vendons et transportons,” I suppose are as efficient to convey title as the English words “grant, bargain and sell,” all warranty being disclaimed. The instrument was signed and sealed, and the only serious objection to it is that thei’e was no sufficient description of the land conveyed. But as the deed refers for this to another instrument duly recorded, and the book and page of the record is stated, this reference would serve to destroy all ambiguity as to the land relinquished.

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Clamorgan v. Baden & St. Louis Railway Co., 72 Mo. 139 (Mo. 1880).

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