Osteen v. Wynn

62 S.E. 37, 131 Ga. 209, 1908 Ga. LEXIS 46
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided July 25, 1908·Published·Cited by 82 cases

Opinion

Evans, P. J.

(After stating the facts.)

1. The demurrer raises the question of the sufiieieney of the description of the land upon which the trespass was alleged to have been committed. The petition alleged that the plaintiffs were the owners of land lot number 140 in the thirty-third district of Chattahoochee county, except 50, acres in the southeast corner, and that the defendants had cut and were proceeding to cut the timber thereon immediately surrounding the excepted 50 acres. Judicial notice will be taken, as to lots of land laid out by State survey in this county, that each contains 202% acres, and is in the form of a square. Huxford v. Southern Pine Co., 124 Ga. 182 (52 S. E. 439). A conveyance of 50 acres in the southeast corner of such a lot of land has been held to contain a sufficient description. The corner of the lot is to be taken as a base point from which two sides of the tract of land shall extend equal distances, so as to inclose by parallel lines the quantity of land conveyed. Payton v. McPhaul, 128 Ga. 510 (58 S. E. 50); Wilkinson v. Reper, 74 Ala. 40; Walsh v. Ringer, 2 Ohio, 327 (15 Am. D. 555). The petition therefore describes the land as lot 140 [213] except a square in the southeast corner containing 50 acres, and the timber which it is alleged is being wrongfully removed was described as located on this lot of land immediately surrounding the quadrangular area excepted in the defendants’ deed, and the description was sufficiently definite.

2. The first ground of the amended motion complains of the following charge to the jury: “The deed from B. L. Wynn to E. J. Wynn had the legal effect of vesting in E. J. Wynn one • half undivided interest in all the land which E. L. Wynn had in the lots mentioned, among others, in all of lot 140 except 50 acres in the southeast corner of the lot. These lands are designated as the Wooldridge plantation on the Cusseta and Jamestown road; and those words, that is, that they are known as the Wooldridge plantation on the Cusseta and Jamestown road, are matters of further description of the land.” The error alleged is that the deed described only conveyed such interest of E. L. Wynn “in so much of lot 140 as was included in what was known as the Wooldridge plantation, whether more or less than 5.0 acres of lot 140; and because the reference to the Wooldridge plantation was not a further description of the 50 acres, but 50 acres was a further description of the Wooldridge plantation;” and the description, “known as the Wooldridge plantation,” was one of higher dignity and should prevail over the description “50 acres in lot No. 140.” Where a deed contains two descriptions of the land conveyed, one general and the other particular, if there is any repugnance, the latter will prevail. Hannibal etc. R. Co. v. Green, 68 Mo. 169; 2 Devlin on Deeds (2d ed.), §1039; 5 Cyc. 880; Tyler’s Law of Boundaries, 29; Shackelford v. Orris, 129 Ga. 791, p. 794 (59 S. E. 772). The description here was of definite lots and parts of lots; and under Payton v. McPhaul, 128 Ga. 510 (58 S. E. 50), all of lot 140 was conveyed except a square, embracing fifty acres in the southeast corner. The added words, “known as the Wooldridge plantation,” were a general description, and must yield to the previous definite and particular description. It was therefore not error for the court to charge that this deed conveyed all of lot 140 except 50 acres in the southeast comer, and that the words “known as the Wooldridge plantation” were matter of further description. Nor do we, in the light of what has just been said, find any errors in the second, third, fourth, sixth, sev[214] enth, and ninth grounds of the amended motion, complaining of certain charges of the court relative to the effect of the descriptions in the several deeds. Nor do we think he erroneously construed the contentions of' the parties, or diverted the minds of the jury from the real contentions.

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Osteen v. Wynn, 62 S.E. 37, 131 Ga. 209, 1908 Ga. LEXIS 46 (Ga. 1908).

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