Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee

25 U.S. 530, 6 L. Ed. 718, 12 Wheat. 530, 1827 U.S. LEXIS 407
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedMarch 18, 1827
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 25 U.S. 530 (Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee, 25 U.S. 530, 6 L. Ed. 718, 12 Wheat. 530, 1827 U.S. LEXIS 407 (1827).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Marshall

delivered the opinion iff the , Court.

This is a writ' of error to a judgment rendered in the . Court of the United States for the District of Mississippi in an .ejectment brought by the defendant in error.

George Poindexter, the lessor of the plaintiff, claimed title to the premises in controversy by virtue of several patents regularly issued to him under the laws of the United States. If the lands were, at the time, grantable, his title is unquestionable. Consequently, the case depended, in the District Court, on the title of the defendant in that Court. Under several opinions given by the judge to the jury,- to which bills of exceptions were taken, a verdict was found *531 for the plaintiff in ejectment, the judgment on which has been brought before this Court. The case must depend on the correctness of the opinions given by the District Judge; but as those opinions bring the title of the defendant in ejectment before this Court, the case will be best understood by taking a general view of the principles on which that title stands.

The defendant gave in evidence a grant from the government of Spain for 1,000 acres of land; bearing date on the 20th of June, 1795, with a plat, and certificate of survey annexed; under which grant he claimed so much of the land in controversy as it covered. He also .offered in evidence a duly certified copy of a certificate of survey-and patent issued thereon t.o David Pannell, for 500 acres, the residue of the premises in controversy; the certificate by the Spanish Surveyor General Carlos Trudeau, daffed the 25th of March, 1795, and the patent issued December 7th, 1797, by Manual Gayoso, the Spanish Governor of West Florida, with a deed of release and confirmation from David Pannell to him, dated January 19th, 1820. Tt was admitted, that the originals of the plat, and certificate • of survey, and of the patent thereon, of which copies were offered, were not in his possession, nor under his control. These papers were rejected, arid a bill of exceptions was taken to the opinion rejecting them.

The defendant also read the depositiori of Tessias, to prove the fairness of the grants under, which he claimed, and. that, they were regularly issued by the proper officers ef the Spanish government at the time they bear date respectively. To rebut this testimony, the plaintiff in ejectment produced a letter of instructions found among the papers of William Atcheson, deceased, the deputy surveyor, by whom the lands in controversy were surveyed. This letter, was directed to William Atcheson, and was proved to be in the hand-writing of William Dunbar, who is also dead, and who was proved to be the principal surveyor of the District of Natchez,, under whom Atcheson acted. The signature appears to Ijave been torn off. This paper tended to show, that the surveys and grant were not made at the time they bear date, butafterwards. The defendant objected *532 to its admission, but his objection was overruled, and to this opinion also, he.took an exception.

The defendant prayed the Court to instruct the jury,

lst* If they should find that, at the time of the sale by the United States of the premises in question, the defendant was in full possession thereof under an adverse title, or colour of title, such sale was void, and passed no title on which the plaintiff could recover.

2d. If they should find, that the defendant, and those under whom he claimed, had the uninterrupted and quiet adverse possession of the premises, claiming under a Spanish title legally and fully executed prior to October 27th, 1795, under which the possession was originally taken, that the plaintiff cannot reco> er.

3d. If the,jury should find, that on the 20th of June, 1795, a patent emanated from the Spanish. government to Joseph Pannell, under whom the defendant claimed, then such patent constituted a good title in the grantee, and those claiming under him, although the grantee was not, on the 27th of October, 1795, an actual resident of the territory ceded by Georgia to the United States.

4th. If the jury should believe that Joseph Pannell, under whom the defendant claimed, on or before the 27th of October,, 1795, was a resident of the said territory ,and that he claimed. the premises in controversy by virtue of a Spanish patent legally and fully executed prior to that day, the defendant is entitled to a verdict.

5th. That the paper purporting to be a copy of . the-articles of agreement between Joseph Pannell and Frahcis Poussett, dated September 20th, 1796, was competent testimony to prove any fact in controversy betweeh the parties in this suit.

‘ 6th. If the jury should be of opinion, that the date attached to the paper purporting to be the instructions from William Dunbar to William Atcheson, is an interpolation or forgery, in süch case they shall disregard it altogether!

7th. In this action of ejectment, after a loDg and continued possession of thirty years on the part of the defendant, and those under whom he claims, under title, or colour of title, the jury are authorized to presume that it had a legal *533 origin, and was legally continued in the defendant, and those under whom he claims, in the absence of satisfactory proof , ,, , to the contrary.

8th. If the jury should believe, that the survey made by William Atcheson in September, 1795, was made at the time it purports to bear date,, that then, and in such case, it will constitute an instrument of a higher and superior nature to the instrument purporting to be private instructions from said Dunbar to said Atcheson, foV the purpose of proving the residence of the said Pannell at that time.

9th. That if, on the whole matter, the jury should have a reasonable doubt, then their verdict should be for the defendant.

The Court granted the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th prayers, but refused the 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, and 8th, to which refusal the counsel for the defendant excepted.

In argument, two general questions have been made.

. 1st. Is’the title set up by the plaintiff in error under the Spanish government, sufficient in itseif to protect his possession ?

2d. Has it been recognised and confirmed by the United States ?

1. The first point has been argued very elaborately, and with deep research. The Court will not enter into the reasoning of the parties, but will state the result of an attentive consideration of that reasoning. „

It is undoubtedly true, that the exact boundary line between the southern British Colonies and Florida, was never adjusted while that province remained in possession of Spain, Each crow'n claimed territory which had been granted by the .other, and was settled by its subjects. Florida was at length ceded to Great Britain : after which, the 31st degree of north latitude was, by the proclamation of 1763, established as the-dividing line between that province and Georgia. The crown, however, was in the habit of changing the limits of the colonies; and, though we complained of the manner in which1 this branch of the prerogative was exercised, we did not resist it.

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Bluebook (online)
25 U.S. 530, 6 L. Ed. 718, 12 Wheat. 530, 1827 U.S. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-poindexters-lessee-scotus-1827.