Davenport v. Bass

137 Tex. 248
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1941
DocketNo. 7610
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 137 Tex. 248 (Davenport v. Bass) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davenport v. Bass, 137 Tex. 248 (Tex. 1941).

Opinion

Mr. Judge German

delivered the opinion of the Commission of Appeals, Section A.

Mrs. A. M. Kelsey Bass, joined by her husband, instituted this suit in the District Court of Starr County against F. Davenport and a number of others. The parties will be referred to as plaintiff and defendants.

Plaintiff is • the owner of what is known as porciones 86 and 87 ■ of the Ancient Jurisdiction of Camargo. Said two porciones are part of a block of porciones numbered 70 to 100. No. 86 is 1300 varas in width and No. 87 is 1050 varas in width, each extending back some 25,000 varas from the Rio Grande river.- Defendant Davenport owns what is known as [251]*251Survey No. 934 under an award and sale made of same as public school land April 30, 1920. Defendant Domingo L. Garza owns Survey No. 565, which was patented to John P. Kelsey September 27, 1881. Defendant Garza also owns Survey No. 164 under an award and sale of same as public school land December 17, 1909; which sale was in good standing at the time of the trial of the case.

The real controversy between the parties concerns the true location of the North boundary line of porciones 86 and 87. The surveys under which defendants claim are all junior surveys, and if porciones 86 and 87 be located as contended for by plaintiff there will be a complete conflict between them and Surveys 934 and 565, and a conflict between them and Survey 164 to the extent of about 200 acres.

E. M. Card was the principal witness for plaintiff on the question of boundary. His testimony reflects that, he was a compentent and careful surveyor, and we are impressed with the conviction that he disclosed by his testimony all physical facts reasonably ascertainable which tended to reveal the true situation concerning the boundaries in question. The plaintiff, who was appellant in the Court of Civil Appeals, has furnished a reduced copy of the map made by Mr. Cord, and we reproduce same here.

The lines of the various surveys run generally north and south and east and west and for convenience we will refer to them as running that way.

The case was tried before the court without a jury and judgment. was entered in favor of defendants. The court fixed the north line of porciones 86 and 87 at the point marked upon the plat as “Line fixed by Court.” Plaintiff appealed and the Court of Civil Appeals reversed and rendered judgment in her favor, thereby fixing the north line of porciones 86 and 87 at the point indicated on the map “Line contended for by Appellant.” 127 S. W. (2d) 1022.

Briefly, it may be said that the Court of Civil Appeals based its conclusion on the proposition that no evidence whatever existed on the ground indicating the lines and boundaries of porciones 86 and 87, except the presence of old fences [253]*253along the northern lines of these surveys as contended for by plaintiff; and the conclusion that as these fences have been recognized and acquiesced in by owners of the different surveys, this was sufficient evidence to show location of the lines as a matter of law. We use the word “as a matter of law” advisedly, because the trial court has found as a matter of fact that the lines were at another place. The holding of the Court of Civil Appeals is reflected by the following language of the opinion:

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Related

Sweats v. Southern Pine Lumber Company
361 S.W.2d 214 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1962)
West v. Hapgood West v. Edwards
174 S.W.2d 963 (Texas Supreme Court, 1943)

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Bluebook (online)
137 Tex. 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davenport-v-bass-tex-1941.