Montgomery v. Economy Fuel Co.

57 S.E. 137, 61 W. Va. 620, 1907 W. Va. LEXIS 178
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 26, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 57 S.E. 137 (Montgomery v. Economy Fuel Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery v. Economy Fuel Co., 57 S.E. 137, 61 W. Va. 620, 1907 W. Va. LEXIS 178 (W. Va. 1907).

Opinion

Sanders, President:

This is a writ of error to a judgment of the circuit court of Fayette county, rendered’ in an action of unlawful entry and detainer, brought by J. C. Montgomery and others against the Economy^ Fuel Company. The summons was made returnable to the sixth day of September term, 1904, the same being the 26th day of the September of that year, and the defendant moved to quash the writ upon the ground that it should have been made returnable to the first day of the term, but the motion was overruled, and this ruling of the court is assigned as error. Our statute, chapter 89, Code, making provision for actions of this character, was designed as an emergency statute, to give speedy remedy, and we must, in construing it, keep in mind its real purpose, and give to it that meaning which will conform to the object of [622]*622its enactment. Section 2 of that chapter provides that the summons may be made returnable to and the case heard and determined at any term of such circuit court. It is said, however, that this section does not fix any particular day for the return of the summons, and that therefore in determining whether or hot it shall be made returnable to any other day except the first clay of the term, we should be guided by section 2 of chapter 124 of the Code, which provides that, with certain specified exceptions, process shall be returnable “to the court on the first day of the term, or in the clerk's office to the first Monday in a month, or to some rule day,” and Gas Co. v. Wheeling, 7 W. Va. 22, is cited to support this view. Tn that case it was held that a summons in an action of unlawful entry and detainer should be made returnable' within ninety days from its date, and that in this respect section 2, chapter 124, Code, applied. Strong-reasons are given in the opinion in that case to show why this section in that respect should apply, and to demonstrate that there should be some limit to the time between the issuance and the return of such process, and as chapter ’89 did not prescribe such limitation, and as section 2, chapter 124, referred to, did do so, that this should be applied to an action of that character. There is no reason why a summons in such action cannot bo made returnable to any particular- day of a term of a court, and certainly there is no special reason why it should be made returnable on the first day rather than to any other day of the term, and where the statute does not specifically call for the return of such summons on the first day of a term, or to any particular day of the term, but prescribes that it shall be made returnable to the term generally, there is no reason to hold that it should be made returnable to the first day Of the term. Where, however, the statute does prescribe that the process shall be returned to a particular place and on a particular day, its provisions must be complied with; and as section 2 of chapter 124 of the Code provides for the return of process in a certain way, this provision must be followed in all cases which fall within the meaning of this section. But we must not overlook section 2 of chapter 89, which provides that a summons of this character shall be returned to the term, and when we consi ler it, we conclude that the [623]*623summons in an action of unlawful entry and detainer is ex.cepted from the operation of section 2 of chapter 124, providing that process shall be returned on the first day of a term. A summons in an action of unlawful entry and detainer certainly cannot be returned to rules, and is held in Gorman v. Steed, 1 W. Va. 1, and if that part of the section does not apply to a return of summons in this character of action, then why should we say that it should be returnable to the first day of the term? Why apply one part of this statute and' not the other, when there is nó real necessity and no good reason why it should be done? As we have observed, section 2 of chapter 89 provides for its return to court, and does not require’it to be done on any particular day. It would certainly require a technical construction to give to this statute, the meaning which is contended should be given to it.

There seems to be no doubt that the defendant, at the time of the institution of this action, was in the, possession of the premises which this action was brought to recover, but we are called on to determine whether or not this possession- by it was unlawful, and in doing so it will be necessary to construe the coal mining lease executed by the plaintiffs to the defendant company, and under which the defendant now claims the right to the possession of the property in controversy. By this lease a certain tract of land in Fayette county was demised to the defendant for coal mining purposes, it conferring upon the lessee only such mining privileges as are necessarily implied from the grant, with the exception that the express right was given to remove the coal from a certain seam and to use certain of the timber therefrom for the purposes af operation; and the lessors excepted from the operation of the lease a certain portion of the property embraced therein, which in the lease is denominated a reservation, and is as follows:

“It is further agreed and understood by the parties hereto that there is reserved from the terms and conditions of this lease what is known as the family graveyard, including all mineral thereon and the surface light to the lot adjoining thereto for burial and , cemetery purposes, which shall include all of the ground oast of said family graveyard, to a point opposite the west side of the Love property.
[624]*624“The parties of the first part further reserve a right to take any of the property herein described not actually necessary for the successful operation of the lease premises herein described, if they or either of them need the same for the purpose of selling or building thereon.”

By an examination of this portion of the lease, it will be found that there are three separate reservations or exceptions provided for. First, it reserves what is known as the family graveyard, including all minerals thereon; second, it reserves the surface right to the lot adjoining the family graveyard for burial and cemetery purposes; and, third, the right is reserved to take any of the property embraced in the lease not actually necessary for the successful operation of the leased promises, if the defendants, or any of them, should need the same for the purpose of selling it, or building thereon.

The first and third specified reservations- are not involved in this controversy, but it is the second, which reserves the right to the lot adjoining the cemetery for burial and cemetery purposes, which is involved, and the. property reserved thereby is sought to be recovered in this proceeding.

It is insisted by the defendant that this provision of the lease, called “reservation,” is, in legal contemplation, a condition contractural in its nature, limiting the right of the defendant to the use of the lot in controversy, subject to the plaintiff’s right to use the same for burial and cemetery purposes; that only the surface of the lot is affected by this clause of the lease, the underlying coal being granted, and it further maintains that the surface is not excepted, by the terms of the lease, but only the right to use the same for such purposes. A lease granting minerals carries with it; by necessary implication, the right to enter upon the property and do all things necessary for the purpose of acquiring and enjoying the estate granted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 S.E. 137, 61 W. Va. 620, 1907 W. Va. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-v-economy-fuel-co-wva-1907.