Grigsby v. Peak

4 S.W. 474, 68 Tex. 235, 1887 Tex. LEXIS 673
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedMay 10, 1887
DocketNo. 5334
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 4 S.W. 474 (Grigsby v. Peak) 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
Grigsby v. Peak, 4 S.W. 474, 68 Tex. 235, 1887 Tex. LEXIS 673 (Tex. 1887).

Opinion

Stayton, Associate Justice.

The leading facts involved in, this case are stated in the cases of Caruth v. Grigsby, and Grigsby v. Caruth, reported in 57 Texas, 259, 273. Every question but one raised in this case was decided adversely to the appellee in the cases above referred to. The question not decided in the cases mentioned arises on the following facts:

1. The land of which that in controversy is a part was community property, owned by John Grigsby and his wife, Louisa.

2. John Grigsby died in 1841, leaving nine children, of whom seven were by a former wife, and two (D. B. and Emeline Grigsby) were the children of himself, and his wife Louisa.

3. The entire land in controversy in this action, belonging to John and Louisa Grigsby, was partitioned in the probate court having the administration of his estate, among his nine children, each one taking an equal share.

4. There was no partition between the estates of John Grigsby and his wife Louisa, and that made purported to be only a partition of the estate of John Grigsby.

'5. Louisa Grigsby having married after his death, had one child by her last husband, who is Maria Louisa Swindle, and a party to this action, to whom, however, nothing was given in the partition to which we have referred, she not being an heir of John Grigsby.

6. After the partition was made Emeline Grigsby sold.the part of the tract set apart to her to the appellee and others, and D. B. Grigsby subsequently sold the part set apart to him to other persons.

From this statement it will be seen that each of the nine children of John Grigsby only inherited from him one-eighteenth of the tract of land of which that in controversy is a part, but in the partition made they each received two-eighteenths of the entire tract partitioned. It will be further seen that D. B. [237]*237Grigsby and his sister Etneline, as well as the child of their mother by her second husband, each inherited from their mother three-eighteenths of the land in controversy in this action.

Through the partition of John Grigsby’s estate each of his children by his first wife received double the quantity of land they inherited from him, while D. B. and Emeline Grigsby in that partition only received one-half of the land to which they were entitled by inheritance from their father and mother, while the daughter of their mother by her second husband received nothing at all. This action was brought by D. B. Grigsby to recover two-eighteenths of the land described in the petition, same as that partitioned as the estate of his father, while Mrs. Swindle seeks to recover three-eighteenths of the same land. The appellee claims nothing except through the conveyance of Emeline Grigsby.

In the case of Caruth v. Grigsby, 57 Texas, 259, it was held that the appellant was not precluded by the decree of the probate court, which preferred only to partition the estate of John Grigsby for ascertaining his right to recover on his claim based on inheritance from his mother, on the ground that a party is concluded by a judgment in the right only on which he sues or is sued.

In the case of Grigsby v. Caruth, 57 Texas, 269, the court instructed the jury as follows: “You are charged that if you believe from the evidence that Daniel B. Grigsby accepted the portion of the land set aside to him by the probate court of Anderson county, in the attempted partition of the league and labor survey originally granted to John Grigsby, and afterward conveyed it by deed or deeds, referring to such partition as his source of title, he will be concluded as respects the property embraced in the petition, and you will find for the defendant Wil - liam Oaruth against the plaintif Daniel B. Grigsby.”

The facts in that case were such as to involve the same questions and principles as are involved in this, and it h as held that the facts embraced in the charge given did not create an estoppel. The decisions in those cases to which we have referred are directly applicable to this, which is but a part of the case in which those decisions were made, severance having been made. Seeing no reason to doubt the correctness of the decisions made in the cases referred to, the questions again presented in this case will not be further discussed.

On the trial of this cause the court gave the following charge: [238]*238“If the plaintiff D. B. Grigsby was a party to a proceeding in the probate court of Anderson county, in which the land in controversy in this suit was partitioned, and if the said Daniel B. Grigsby was allotted a portion of said land, and if he subsequently accepted a portion of the land so allotted to him, and after he became of age (twenty-one years), sold it, he is bound by the law of implied warranty—that is to say, the law annexes to such partition a warranty of title from one to the other of the parties or co-tenants in such partition, and the said D. B. Grigsby not having been disturbed in the possession of or evicted from the portion assigned to him in such partition, can not recover in this suit, and you will as to the said D. B. Grigsby, if you find such facts to exist, find a verdict for the defendant.” Under this instruction a verdict and judgment were entered against D. B. Grigsby.

It is now insisted that this charge was incorrect in view of the facts of the case. That a warranty is implied in cases of compulsory partition made between tenants in common is true. Ross v. Armstrong, 25 Texas Supplement, 355. This rule is now made statutory (Rev. Stats., art. 2483), but it is unnecessary to consider whether the warranty given by the statute is more comprehensive than was implied before the statute was passed, for, be that as it may, this case must be determined upon the principles applicable to the question before the adoption of the Revised Statutes.

In determining the nature and extent of a warranty implied on compulsory partition, it becomes necessary to consider the reasons which gave rise to the implication, and the purposes of justice intended to be subserved by it. Every rule, the outgrowth of long experience and observation, has its reason, and is established for the preservation of rights and the fair adjustment of conflicting claims and equities existing between man and man; and when the reasons on which a rule is.based do not call for its application in a given case, it would be a perversion of justice to apply it.

The reasons which called for an implied warranty in compulsory partition between co-parcenus at common law, apply here to such partitions as may be compulsorily made between any persons, who, under the laws of this State, are entitled to have such partitions made, and are thus well stated in the case of Ross v. Armstrong. “But this implied warranty and condition were, by the common law, confined to a partition made between [239]*239coparceners, and for the reason, it is supposed, that the right of compulsory partition was given by the common law only to coparceners, and not to joint tenants, or tenants in common, to whom the right was first given by statute.

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

Related

French v. French
188 S.W.2d 586 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1945)
Reyes v. A. O. Kolberg, Inc.
101 S.W.2d 351 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1937)
Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. City of Eagle Pass
249 S.W. 268 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1923)
Guaranty State Bank v. Hidalgo County Bank
245 S.W. 1039 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1922)
Davis v. Wilson
241 S.W. 562 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1922)
O'Conor v. Sanchez
202 S.W. 1005 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1918)
Reed v. Robertson
150 S.W. 306 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1912)
Whitsett v. Wamack
59 S.W. 961 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1900)
Wade v. Boyd
60 S.W. 360 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1900)
P. J. Willis & Bro. v. Robinson
23 S.W. 822 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1893)
Grigsby v. May
19 S.W. 343 (Texas Supreme Court, 1892)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 S.W. 474, 68 Tex. 235, 1887 Tex. LEXIS 673, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grigsby-v-peak-tex-1887.