Hawkins v. Taylor

27 N.E. 1117, 128 Ind. 431, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 350
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJune 10, 1891
DocketNo. 15,129
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 27 N.E. 1117 (Hawkins v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawkins v. Taylor, 27 N.E. 1117, 128 Ind. 431, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 350 (Ind. 1891).

Opinion

Coffey, C. J.

This was an action instituted in the Daviess Circuit Court by Hiram .L. Haivkins, Mary J. Harris, Jennie Hawkins and Ella Hawkins against William A. Taylor and others for the partition of the lands described in the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the appellants are the owners in fee of the undivided one-third of the land, and that the appellees own the remaining undivided two-thirds; that the [432]*432appellants and the appellees are tenants in common, and that the appellees are claiming some interest in the one-third so owned by appellants, when, in truth and in fact, they have no right, title or interest therein.

, Prayer for partition, and that appellees be forever enjoined from asserting or claiming any interest in the one-third so owned by the appellants.

An additional complaint was filed in the cause, in which it was alleged, in addition to the facts above set out, that the appellees had executed certain mortgages upon their interest in the land in controversy, to which additional complaint was attached a prayer that the interest of the appellants be set off freed from the lien of said mortgages.

The appellees, except Francis M. Harned, the AEtna Life Insurance Company and the Evansville and Indianapolis Railroad Company, filed a joint answer to the complaint, the first paragraph of which is a general denial.

The second paragraph avers that at the October term of the Daviess Circuit Court for the year 1875, the appellee Joseph M. Taylor brought suit therein against Eli E. Hawkins, Catharine E. Hawkins, his wife, Elias Grace and Charlotte Grace, then his wife, John P. Coup and Mary J. Coup (now Mary Harris), Hiram L. Hawkins and Laura Hawkins, to quiet his title to the land in controversy in this suit; that in said suit it was adjudged and decreed by said court that the said Joseph M. Taylor was the owner' of, and then held the title in fee simple to, the entire tract of real estate described in the complaint in this cause, and a decree was therein entered forever quieting his title to said land against the claim of said parties thereto; that the appellees, other than Joseph M. Taylor, make title to said land through the said Joseph M. Taylor; that the appellants, Hiram L. Hawkins and Mary J. Harris, formerly Mary J. Coup, are the same persons who were defendants in said action, and that the appellants Jennie Hawkins and Ella Hawkins are the children of Eli E. Hawkins, who was a defendant in said [433]*433suit, and who has since died, and that the said Jennie and Ella Hawkins succeeded to the rights of the said Eli E. Hawkins, and have no other claim to said land.

Upon issues formed the cause was tried by the court, who entered a finding for the appellees, and over a motion for a new trial entered judgment on the finding.

The only error assigned is that the court erred in overruling the motion of the appellants for a new trial.

The facts in the case, as disclosed by the evidence, are that "William Hawkins died intestate about the year 1854, seized in fee of the land in dispute, together with other lands in Daviess county, and leaving as his only heirs at law his widow, Charlotte Hawkins, and the following named children : Benjamin J. Hawkins, Eli E. Hawkins, Mary J. Hawkins and Hiram L. Hawkins. In the year 1857 the widow married Elias Grace. Benjamin J. Hawkins died intestate in the year 1858, leaving his mother and the brothers and sister above named as his only heirs at law.

On the 18th day of January, 1870, Elias Grace and Charlotte, his wife, Eli E. Hawkins and Catherine E., his wife, and Mary J. Harris (then Coup) and John P. Coup, her husband, conveyed to Joseph M. Taylor, by general warranty deed of that date, the undivided seven-ninths of the land in controversy here, and on the same day, by order of the common pleas court of Daviess county, Elias Grace, as the guardian of Hiram L. Hawkins, conveyed to Taylor the remaining two-ninths of said land. Taylor paid the full value of the land, which amounted to $14,350. No part of the money was paid to Charlotte Grace, the widow, but the whole consideration was paid to the children of William Hawkins, deceased.

There is evidence tending to prove that at the time of the sale of this land to Taylor it was agreed between the children of William Hawkins, deceased, and Charlotte Grace, their mother, and Taylor, the purchaser, that Mrs. Grace [434]*434should take her interest in the lands of which her former husband died seized in lands other than the lands in dispute here, and that pursuant to such agreement she did take possession of other lands, and occupied them until her death, which occurred in 1887. Charlotte lived with her second husband from the date of their marriage until her death at the date above stated.

The proof fully sustains the second paragraph of the answer above set out.

Two controlling questions are presented for our consideration, namely:

First. Are the appellants in this case estopped from claiming any interest in the land in controversy by the decree of the Daviess Circuit Court quieting title thereto in Joseph M. Taylor?

Second. Was evidence admissible under the issues in the cause tending to prove a parol partition of the lands of which William Hawkins died seized between Charlotte Grace and the children of William Hawkins, deceased ?

It is contended by the appellants that, under the provisions of section 18,1 G. & H. 411, the deed executed by Charlotte Grace and her husband to Taylor on the 18th day of January, 1870, was void, and did not vest her interest in the land, and that upon her death it vested in her children by William Hawkins and their descendants. This statute provides that if a widow shall marry a second or any subsequent time, holding real estate in virtue of any previous marriage, such widow may not, during such marriage, with or without the assent of her husband, alienate such real estate, and if during such marriage such widow shall die, such real estate shall go to her children by the marriage in virtue of which such real estate came to her, if any there be.

The argument is that an action to quiet title operates on existing titles only, and that, as the appellants acquired title to the land in dispute by descent from Charlotte Grace after the action of Taylor to quiet his title, the title now held by [435]*435the appellants is not affected by the decree entered in that case.

The general rule is that a judgment or decree does not conclude rights and interests which did not exist at the time the judgment or decree was rendered. The rule is the result of the well-known principle that a judgment or decree does not conclude matters which the parties had no opportunity to litigate. Freeman Judgments (3d ed.), section 329.

In this case, however, the parties did have the opportunity to litigate the validity of the deed executed by Mrs. Grace to Taylor. Had the action been against Mrs. Taylor alone, the appellants here would not have been bound by the decree, for their right to inherit the land through their mother could not have been affected by a proceeding to which they were not parties. But in Taylor’s action to quiet title the appellants here were made parties defendant. Had Taylor’s rights depended wholly upon his deed from Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 N.E. 1117, 128 Ind. 431, 1891 Ind. LEXIS 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawkins-v-taylor-ind-1891.