Gentry v. United States

101 F. 51, 41 C.C.A. 185, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4371
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 21, 1900
DocketNo. 1,261
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 101 F. 51 (Gentry v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gentry v. United States, 101 F. 51, 41 C.C.A. 185, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4371 (8th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

One may not bring a suit for one cause of action, and recover judgment for another. A court can consider only what is in issue under (.lie pleadings. Averments without proofs, and proofs without averments, are unavailing. The judgment may not go beyond a determination of the issues presented by (he pleadings, nor beyond the scope and object of the prayers they contain. These are axioms in the law of pleading and practice. They rest upon the basic principles of our- jurisprudence, that no man shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law; and due process of law must give to the parties to be affected an opportunity to be heard respecting the justice of the judgment sought. It must be one which gives notice of the issue to be determined, which hears before it condemns, proceeds upon inquiry, and renders judgment onlv after trial. Burton v. Platter, 10 U. S. App. 657, 663, 4 C. C. A. 95, 99, 53 Fed. 901, 905; Taussig’s Ex’rs v. Glenn, 4 U. S. App. 524, 541, 2 C. C. A. 314, 318, 51 Fed. 409, 413; Merrill v. Rokes, 12 U. S. App. 183, 188, 4 C. C. A. 433, 435, 54 Fed. 450, 452; Live-Stock Co. v. Blackburn, 30 U. S. App. 571, 579, 17 C. C. A. 532, 536, 70 Fed. 949, 954; Wood v. Collins, 23 U. S. App. 224, 230, 8 C. C. A. 522, 525, 60 Fed. 139, 142.

The judgment in this case violates all these rules. The suit was an action of conversion brought by the United States against the [52]*52plaintiff in error, James C. Gentry, and another, henceforth called the “defendants.” The complaint consisted of three counts. In the first the plaintiff, the United States, alleged that the defendants had cut down and carried away from the land of the United States yellow pine and spruce trees sufficient to make 500,000 feet of lumber, which was worth $5,000; that this lumber was the property of the United States; and that the defendants had converted it to their own use, to the damage of the plaintiff in the sum of $5,000. In the second the plaintiff, alleged that in September, 1898, it was the owner and in possession of 500,000 feet of wood, board measure, of the value of $5,000, and that the defendants took the same from the plaintiff’s possession and converted it to their own use, to the damage of the plaintiff in the sum of $5,000. In the third count it alleged that in June, 1898, it was the owner of 500,000 feet of wood, of the value of $5,000, and entitled to the immediate possession of the same, but that defendants were in possession thereof, and thereupon converted the same to their own use, to the damage of the plaintiff in the sum of $5,000. The prayer of the complaint was for judgment against' the defendants for $5,000, with legal interest thereon from the 22d day of September, 1898, and for the costs of the action. The defendants denied the allegations 'of the complaint, and the defendant Gentry further answered that the three causes of action set forth in the plaintiff’s complaint all related to one supposed cutting and conversion of timber; admitted that he had cut certain timber and trees, sufficient to make about 500,000 feet, board measure, of lumber; and justified his cutting under the act of June 3,1878 (20 Stat. 88), which provides that citizens of the United States who are bona fide residents of the states of Colorado and Nevada, and of certain territories and mineral districts of the United States “are hereby authorized and permitted to fell and remove, for building, agricultural, mining, or other domestic purposes, any timber or other trees growing or being on the public lands, said lands being mineral, and not subject to entry under existing laws of the United States, except for mineral entry, in either of said states, territories or districts of which such citizens or persons may be at the time bona fide residents, subject to such rules and regulations as the secretary of the interior may prescribe for the protection of the timber and of the undergrowth growing upon such lands, and for other purposes.” He further alleged in his answer that the possession of the unsold lumber made by him from the timber which he had cut had been taken from him under a supposed writ of replevin issued in this case, and prayed that he might go hence without day, and might have judgment for the possession of the lumber taken by the officers of the court. The United States filed a replication in which it denied all the averments of this answer, including the allegation that a writ of replevin had been issued in this case, and that the property had been taken from the defendant thereunder; and it again prayed for judgment for $5,000, interest, and costs, on account of the conversion. There is a bill of exceptions in the record, which purports to contain all the testimony. There is no evidence in this bill that any writ of replevin was ever issued, or that any property was ever taken thereunder. There is in [53]*53the record preceding the bill of exceptions, the copy of an affidavit in replevin, of a writ in replevin, and of a return thereon; but these copies are not material to the determination of this case, nor can they be considered a part of the evidence herein, because they were not introduced in evidence, and do not constitute a part of the bill of exceptions, because there is no evidence that any of the property referred to in the pleadings was taken under this writ, and the writ itself was issued without authority and in violation of tbe statutes and practice of Colorado. No writ of replevin may be issued under the Code of Colorado until an action in claim and delivery is commenced by the filing of a complaint which alleges the right of the plaintiff to the possession of personal property, and claims the delivery thereof (Mills’ Ann. Code, §§ 79, 80), and no such action was commenced or complaint filed.

In the course of the trial the defendants introduced evidence which tended to show that the lands from which they cut the timber had been located as mineral claims under the acts of congress; that these claims were in existence, and had not been abandoned; that the lands were mineral in character; and that the defendant Gentry had cut the timber from them under contracts or permits from the locators of the mineral claims for the purposes specified in the act of June 3, 1878, although he failed to show that he had strictly complied with all the rules and regulations which the secretary of the interior had prescribed for the protection of the timber and of the undergrowth under that act. If he was guilty of trespass in taking the timber, there was ample evidence in the case to raise the question whether he had taken it unintentionally and in the honest belief that he was lawfully exercising a right which he had, or with the willful intention to take property to which he knew he had no right. There was evidence in the case that the value of the standing timber was $1 per 1,000', while that of the lumber after the defendant had manufactured it into boards was $8 per 1,000.

At tbe close of the trial the opening address of counsel for the United States to the jury was in these words:

“Gentlemen of the jury: These defendants are charged In the complaint 3n this case with having cut down 500,000 feet of timber from the lands belonging to the government. The value of the lumber made from this timber is alleged to be $5,000, and we aslt you to return a'verdict for this sum. This is all the plaintiff cares to say in the opening.”

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Bluebook (online)
101 F. 51, 41 C.C.A. 185, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gentry-v-united-states-ca8-1900.