Randolph v. Lewis

210 S.W. 795, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 451
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 1919
DocketNo. 36-2685
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 210 S.W. 795 (Randolph v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randolph v. Lewis, 210 S.W. 795, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 451 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1919).

Opinion

SADLER, J.

Plaintiff in error filed suit in the district court in trespass to try title to recover from defendant in error 369 ■ acres of land in Madison county, Tex., patented to Samuel Bogart, assignee of John W. Holman, on February 14, 1852, by virtue of certificate 347, described by metes and bounds, and having the Navasota river as its western boundary. The defendant answered by plea of the five-year statute of limitation, claiming under a deed from D. J. Donohoe to the defendant, dated May 16, 1905, describing the land as follows:

“All of that certain tract or parcel of land in said county and state, and being 360 acres of land patented to John W. Holman, abstract No. 116, certificate 516, vol. 9, as shown by the land records of Madison county, Texas, and bounded on the south by the George L. Rams-dale and on the east by the A., J. Wynn, and on the north by another survey of the G. L. Rams-dale, and on the west by the Navasota river.”

The defendant recovered in the district court on his plea of limitation, which judgment was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 163 S. W. 647.

Opinion.

[1] The sole question presented for our determination is: Will the deed relied upon by the defendant support his plea of limitation? This question is very carefully considered in the opinion of the Court of Civil lAppeals,^ and the authorities upon which plaintiff relies for sustaining the proposition that the description of the land in the deed is so defective that it will not support the plea are very carefully reviewed in the opinion on rehearing. We are of opinion that the Court of Civil Appeals correctly decided the question.

The abstract records in the office of the tax assessor of Madison county show that certificate No. 347 was issued to Samuel Bogart and the patent to John W. Holman. The deed to Lewis is clearly erroneous in reciting the certificate to be No. 516, and it is apparent that the land was patented to Bogart as the assignee of Holman. The abstract books did not correctly show the facts. Were this all the description contained in the deed to Lewis, the contention of plaintiff might be correct. However, the further description is believed to be sufficient to raise the question of notice to plaintiff that the defendant was asserting title to the land under the deed from Donohoe.

Defendant was in possession of the identical tract of land to which plaintiff asserted title. Plaintiff was therefore charged with knowledge that defendant was in possession of property belonging to him. This fact was sufficient to call the attention of plaintiff to the holding of defendant. Brownson v. Scanlan, 59 Tex. 222; Craig v. Cartwright, Tex. 413; Wimberly v. Bailey, 58 Tex. 222.

[2] Having notice of the adverse possession, and seeking to pursue that notice to ascertain by what tenure defendant held, the plaintiff consults the records of Madison county. It is true that, in undertaking to run the chain of title from himself to the sovereignty, he does not find a conveyance to the defendant; but is he, with the knowledge of defendant’s possession, excused from a further investigation to ascertain whether defendant holds a deed to the property? A further examination of the record would have brought him in touch with the deed here under question. What would he have discovered from an inspection of that deed? He would have ascertained the following definite facts: (a) A deed from Donohoe to Lewis; (b) that it affected in some manner the John tW. Holman survey in Madison county; (c) that it was a conveyance of a certain tract of land situated in Madison county, bounded on the west by the Navasota river, on the south by the George L. Ramsdale survey, on the east by the A. G. Wynn, and on the north by another George L. Ramsdale survey. The plaintiff is charged as a matter of law with knowledge of the location of the land owned by him and with its boundaries. Brownson v. Scanlan, 59 Tex. 222; Craig v. Cartwright, 65 Tex. 413.

Further investigation of the record would' [796]*796have disclosed to him the fact that the boundary lines of the land claimed by the defendant and the boundary lines of the Wynn and two Ramsdale surveys were the same, and that the Navasota river was the western boundary. Plaintiff knew that his land was located within that particular territory included within the boundaries of those surrounding surveys, and had' the ¡Navasota river for the western boundary.

It is contended, however, that the deed to the defendant does not sufficiently describe the land, to put the plaintiff upon such notice as will support limitation, since it was necessary for the plaintiff to do something more than examine the records in order to ascertain the fact that the particular land described in defendant’s deed was the land described in plaintiff’s title; for instance, that it was necessary to ascertain by actual survey the location of the boundary lines of the surrounding surveys, and that would require an investigation aliunde the record. That may be true but let us see about plaintiff’s own deed. Is it possible that the plaintiff can from the record read the deed under which he holds, and then say exactly where his land is located on the Navasota river? In order to find the land claimed by the plaintiff and described in his deed, it is necessary to go upon the ground and find the objects defining the boundaries of his property. It is necessary, in order to determine the boundaries of the land held by defendant, to ascertain the lines and comers of the surrounding surveys mentioned as descriptive of the location and extent of the holding under Donohoe’s deed.

The surveyor says that he cannot plat the land described in the deed to defendant without first platting the surrounding surveys. This is self-evident; but can he plat the land from the description in plaintiff’s deed, so as to assist or point out its definite location with reference to the public domain from 'which taken, or surrounding lands, without platting the abutting surveys? It is true that he can, with proper instruments, draw an outline to a scale of a certain supposed tract of land; but does that assist in the location of the land on the ground? We assert not.

In all matters with reference to the description of land, that description is sufficient when the surveyor can take the data called for in the deed, and with that data, locate the land upon the ground. According to the record here the surveyor can locate the land claimed by defendant, by utilizing the things called for in the description contained in the deed.

The record shows that at the date of the deed to the defendant these adjoining surveys had been patented and that the field notes thereof were of record. Taking the date furnished by defendant’s deed, the plaintiff can go upon the ground and locate definitely the land covered by the claim of the defendant. And a fortiori, taking the deed of the defendant in connection with the possession of the defendant, of which plaintiff had notice, the plaintiff could have known from the deed that defendant was asserting, by the record, title to the property claimed by plaintiff.

The errors In defendant’s deed, in giving the name of the patentee, and tire number of the certificate, are not material, and may be treated as surplusage, when the other portion of the description is clearly sufficient to manifest ;the error and to locate the land. Arambula v. Sullivan, 80 Tex. 615, 16 S. W. 436; MacManus v. Orkney, 91 Tex. 33, 40 S. W. 715. In the case of Club Land & Cattle Co. v. Wall, 99 Tex.

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Bluebook (online)
210 S.W. 795, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randolph-v-lewis-texcommnapp-1919.