Moore v. Dodd

8 Ky. 140
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 25, 1817
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Ky. 140 (Moore v. Dodd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Dodd, 8 Ky. 140 (Ky. Ct. App. 1817).

Opinion

Judge Owsley

delivered the opinion of the court.

James Harrod on the 20th May, 1780, made, with the proper surveyor, the'following entry:—

“20Ih May, 1780,. — James Harrod, assignee, &c. enters “1000 acres of land upon a treasury warrant, on the north “side of the Knob Lick, including half the said lick, adjoining Samuel Moore’s settlement right, and around the “same.”

And on the 13th March, 1781, withdrew it as follows:

“James Harrod withdraws his entry of 1000 acres on “the north side of the Knob Lick, adjoining Samuel Moore’s “settlement.”

And on the same day located it as follows:

^ March 13th, 1781 — James Harrod enters 1000 acres “upon a treasury warrant, on the north side of Samuel [141]*141“Moore’s settlement, and east end thereof, extending north “and east for quantity.”

This location Harrod caused to be surveyed; and finally in June, 1782, obtained the patent in his own name.

Subsequent to this, Harrod sold and conveyed part of the land to the appellee”, Warren, and part to a certain Miller, who thereafter sold the same to a certain Willis Green, and the appellee Dodd, and Miller have actually conveyed to Green the land sold to him; and Green having departed this life, his title has passed by his will to his children, the other appellees.

The purchasers of Harrod having thus obtained the title, settled upon the land; and tfie possession so acquired by them, has been continued down to the present time.

To obtain from the appellees a surrender of their title, thus derived through Harrod, and to obtain from the heiress of Harrod, (he having departed this’ life) a-conveyance for the moiety of the tract not disposed of by him, the appellant exhibited his bill in the court below.

He charges the entry, although made in the name of Harrod, was in trust for the use and benefit of his deceased father, Samuel Moore; — a'ledges the appellees, the purchasers, had full knowledge of the trust before tney made the purchase; and asserts his right as heir to his father Samuel Moore.

He moreover charges, that his father, Samuel, obtained from the commissioners a certificate for settlement and preemption in the following words:

“November 10, 1779. Samuel Moore this day claimed a settlement and pre-emption to a tract of land lying on the north side of Knob Lick, including the half of said lick, by improving the same in the year 1776, and residing in the county twelve months before the year 1778, satisfactory proof, &c. the said Moore has a right to a settlement of 400 acres of land, including the said improvement, and the pre-emption of 1000 acres adjoining, &c.”

This certificate of settlement he alledges was entered with the surveyor as follows:

“June 24, 1780. Samuel Moore enters 400 acres upon “a certificate of settlement, lying on the north side of the “Knob Lick, including half the said lick.”

And the pre-emption -warrant he also states was entered as follows:

“July 18, 1780. Samuel Moore enters a pre-emption [142]*142“warrant, adjoining his settlement, agreeable to a survey “made by James Douglass of the same.”

This pre-emption entry, he moreover charges, was after the death of his father, withdrawn by James Howard and Mary Moore, the administrators of his father’s estate, as follows:

“December 17, 1781. The administrators of the estate “of Samuel Moore dec. withdraw his pre-emption warrant, “laid adjoining his settlement made agreeable to a survey “made by James Douglass of the same, the land being already surveyed and the warrants received out of the office “by James Harrod.”

The withdrawal thus made, the appellant alledges to have been without authority, and fraudulent; and that the warrant was concealed by Harrod, until the year 1789, when it was discovered and again entered for him, upon the same ground, from which it had been previously with* drawn.

After the re-entry in 1789, the appellant further charges, that a survey was executed, and the same carried into grant; and his counsel now contends that the entry of Moore in 1780, is a valid one, and as it is of prior date to the latter entry in the name of Harrod, he insists that whatever might be the appellant’s success in asserting a claim exclusively under the entry in the name of Harrod, he cannot be prejudiced bv the fraudulent withdrawal by the administrators of his ancestor, and that under his superior equity derived through the entry of 1780, in the name of his father, the appellees should be compelled to surrender their elder claim.

The appellees. Dodd, Green and Warren, admit nothing in favor of the appellant’s right to relief; and severally rely upon their being purchasers for a valuable consideration without notice.

Fanllcroy and his wife, who appears to be the heiress pf Harrod, by their ansv/er deny the right of the appellant to more than five hundred acres; but for that much they admit, that under an agreement between Samuel Moore, in his lifetime, and Harrod, he is entitled, and alledges the same has been conveyed to him and in his possession for a considerable length of time.

Upon a hearing in the court below, the appellant’s bill as to Dodd, Green and Warren, was dismissed; but as to Fantleroy and his wife, an interlocutory decree was pro-[143]*143bounced in favor of the appellants; and from that decree the appellant has appealed to this court; but as no final decree appears to have been entered as to Fantleroy and wife, the case, as to them, is not now properly before this court.

A purcha-deranonfrom a tm tee, 8c the trust, will be protected, To affect a. purchaser Wg should know that ’-he cestui rethe property.— Hard, 37. A pnrcha-tf,re ^ay protect himself under the in£?sCl^vendor*' i Atk 571, Bradlyn vs. 243-’ Ambler 313'. The plea ofpnrchasing without no-ver prevailo vera superb dev'1 an^ ad verredistinct claim.

[143]*143Whether, therefore, the appellant should have relief against those in whose favor his bill was dismissed, is the only inquiry now properly presented for consideration.

Relief is sought against them, as we have already shewn, 1st, upon the ground of the entry in the name of Harrod having been made in trust for the use and benefit of the appellants’ ancestor.

But, whether the proof and exhibits sufficiently manifest that charge, we have not thought i^ material to examine, because, if they did, still we should be of opinion, the ap-pellees, as purchasers for a valuable Consideration and without notice, ought not to be compelled to surrender their legal title.

Both Green and Warren are shewn to have perfected their title, and paid the purchase money, long before the commencement of this suit; and with respect to Green, there is not the slightest circumstance, proven in the cause, conducing to shew, he purchased with notice of the appellants’ claim.

The evidence, in relation to Warren, admits of more doubt; but we are of opinion it is not sufficiently strong to fix upon him notice of Moore’s claim, under the entry in the name of Harrod.

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Bluebook (online)
8 Ky. 140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-dodd-kyctapp-1817.