Rachford v. Glover

123 S.W.2d 700
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 29, 1938
DocketNo. 5325.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 123 S.W.2d 700 (Rachford v. Glover) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rachford v. Glover, 123 S.W.2d 700 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

HALL, Justice.

This suit in form of trespass to try title was instituted in the District Court of Up-shur County by appellees against appellants and other persons for title and possession of seven acres of land, including the minerals therein. Appellees alleged title under the three, five, ten and twenty-five years statutes of limitation. Appellants, James H. Rachford and Harriott Elizabeth May-hew, a person of unsound mind, by her guardian, only, answered by general demurrer and plea of not guilty. They also specially denied that the minerals had been segregated from the surface of said land. Appellants answered further that they were the owners of the seven acres of land in fee simple in the following proportion: James H. Rachford an undivided ⅜ interest, and Mrs. Harriott Elizabeth Mayhew a ⅛ undivided interest. They also sought removal of cloud from their title cast by appellees’ claim. Trial was to the court and resulted in judgment for appellees for the minerals in and under the land in controversy, including the oil and gas, together with the right to enter upon said land and produce and market the oil and gas therefrom. The surface of said land was awarded to appellants according to their respective interest therein. James H. Rachford and Mrs. Har-riott Elizabeth Mayhew by her guardian prosecute this appeal.

At the outset we are met with a motion by appellees to dismiss this appeal *702 for the reason that the appeal bond was not filed within twenty days after adjournment of the term of court at which this cause was tried. It appears from the record that the term of the District Court of Upshur County at which this cause was tried begun on the 4th day of January, 1937, and closed on the 30th day of January, 1937. The appeal bond was not filed until February 27, 1937, more than twenty days after adjournment of the court. R.C.S. Art. 2253, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 2253, requires that an appeal bond shall be filed within twenty days after the expiration of the term at which the cause is tried where the term of court, as in this instance, does not continue for more than eight weeks. This court in Pessoney v. Cobb-Holman Lbr. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 88 S.W.2d 566, held that the appellate court has no jurisdiction to consider an appeal where the appeal bond is filed more than twenty days after the expiration of the term of court at which the case is tried. Appellants contend that this appeal should not be dismissed because appellees did not file their motion to dismiss the appeal within thirty days after the filing of the transcript in this court. See Court Rule 8. This contention is answered in Frier v. Krohn, Tex.Civ.App., 104 S.W.2d 537, wherein it is said: “Failure to file the appeal bond within the time prescribed by the statute was not a mere ‘informality’ in the manner of bringing the case into this court. The filing of the bond within the time required by statute was necessary to confer jurisdiction on this court, and, since the failure to file the bond within the time allowed was jurisdictional in nature, going to the very foundation of the appeal, Court Rule No. 8 has no application.” It is our holding, then, that this court has no jurisdiction of this appeal insofar as it affects James H. Rachford, and as to him this appeal is dismissed. With respect to the other appellant, Mrs. Harriott Elizabeth Mayhew, admittedly a person of unsound mind, and her guardian, Roy Mayhew, the rule is different. R.C.S., Art. 2072, permits a guardian acting in his fiduciary capacity to prosecute or defend a suit for his ward without the necessity for giving security for costs. So the motion of appellees to dismiss this appeal insofar as it affects Mrs. Mayhew is overruled.

Appellants’ 14th proposition is: “The plaintiffs having described the land they sued for by metes and bounds, giving the distance of its Northwest corner or beginning corner, from the Northwest Corner of the E. A. J. Evans survey, and the distance of its Southeast corner from the most Northerly Northeast corner of said Evans survey, and delineated the lines of the tract sued for by metes and bounds, and having entirely failed to offer evidence sufficient to prove that said tract was located on the' ground substantially as described and with the dimensions delineated in their pleading, were not entitled to recover herein even if they had established title by limitation under some count in their Amended petition to a 7 acre excess within the enclosure of said 37.-87 acres and the court erred in finding for and giving judgment to plaintiffs for the mineral estate in said tract as described by them.” Appellees are holders of an undivided ¼ interest in the mineral estate under the land in controversy. They purchased their interest from Mrs. Annie R. Callahan and her husband, C. S. Callahan, who own a 37.87-acre tract of land which the evidence shows lies immediately North of the 7 acres in controversy. Appellant Mrs. Har-riott Elizabeth Mayhew claims an interest in the land in controversy by inheritance from her father. J. T. Means, remote grantor of appellees, took title to the 37.87-acre tract of land with field notes calling to begin at the Northwest corner of the Evans survey “and runs South and East so as to include 37.87 acres of land.” J. T. Means in locating the 37.87-acre tract on the ground took in not only the 37.87 acres, but also the 7 acres in controversy and the record discloses without dispute that the 37.87-acre tract and the 7-acre tract are enclosed under the same fence and have been since about 1901. The evidence, in our opinion, is amply sufficient to establish the title in appellees and those under whom they claim under the ten years statute to both the 37.87 acres, had the title thereto been in dispute, and the 7 acres, in other words, all the land within the enclosure. As said before, title to the 7 acres alone is controverted. Appellees in their petition describe the 7-acre tract by metes and bounds and the question raised by this proposition is whether the evidence in the record is sufficient to identify the land described in the petition so as to locate it with reasonable certainty. The evidence in this respect by the witness Vickers is that the 7-acre tract was located between the 37.87-acre tract on the North and the V ictory land on the South; that it lay along the South side of the 37.87-acre tract from the East side to the West side; that there is no land between the Victory land on the South and *703 the 37.87-acre tract on the North, except the 7-acre tract here in controversy. The witness Vickers testified further:

“Q. Mr. Vickers, I show you here a sketch I have made; this is north, this is south; this is east and this is west? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. This represents the Evans Survey? A. Yes, sir.
“Q. This is a 37-8%oo acre tract? A. Correct.
“Q. Show me where the seven acre tract would be located on that. A. This strip here (indicates).
“(Court: Indicating a strip across the south end).
“A. (continuing) It runs from the east side to the west side on the 37-8%oo acre tract of land.
“Q. That same 7 acres described in this lawsuit? A. It is.
“Q. What tract south of that? A. Victory tract.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

De Alonzo v. Solis
709 S.W.2d 690 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 S.W.2d 700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rachford-v-glover-texapp-1938.