Rutherford County v. City of Murfreesboro

309 S.W.2d 778, 43 Tenn. App. 489, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 26, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 309 S.W.2d 778 (Rutherford County v. City of Murfreesboro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rutherford County v. City of Murfreesboro, 309 S.W.2d 778, 43 Tenn. App. 489, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 132 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

[491]*491L

SHRIVER, J.

This is a case from the Chancery Court of Rutherford County, involving certain property on the Public Square in the city of Murfreesboro, the County seat, which property is around and adjacent to the Court House, and which, according to the contention of the complainant, belongs to the County. By its bill, the County seeks to have settled its rights in, and ownership of, said property, as well as the boundary line around the Court House yard.

The case was heard on oral and documentary evidence before the Chancellor on a stipulation that it would be tried according to the forms of Chancery and the result was a dismissal of the bill and a refusal to grant any of the relief prayed.

From the decree of the Chancellor the County has appealed and assigned errors.

n.

The Pleadings

The original bill recites, among other things, that the complainants M. H. Jones, Walter Taylor and Silas M. Hoover are residents of Rutherford County and compose a committee appointed by the Quarterly County Court of that County for the purpose of trying to adjust differences existing between the County and the City of Murfreesboro involving the maintenance of parking meters on an area alleged to be the property of the County adjacent to the Court House; and, in the event the matter could not be satisfactorily adjusted with the City of Murfreesboro, that said committee was authorized by [492]*492said resolution to employ counsel and to institute legal action for and on behalf of the County for the purpose of having a judicial determination of title to, and the location of the lines around the land belonging to the County in connection with the Court House, and for the removal of the parking meters installed by the City on the land belonging to the County.

It is alleged that the aforesaid County committee, after extended negotiations, was unable to reach any agreement with duly constituted officials of the City and that, therefore, this suit. was instituted as directed by the Quarterly County Court.

The prayers of the bill are (1) for process (2) that the boundary lines of the land belonging to the County of Rutherford, as described in this bill, be located and established by a decree of the Court, and that the said County be given full and complete possession of said land included within said boundary lines, and that the defendant, City of Murfreesboro, be ordered to vacate any and all land included within said boundary lines and enjoined from interfering with said land, or in any manner using the same, or infringing upon the rights of the County of Rutherford concerning said land. In any and all events let the bondary lines of said land be definitely determined and located by a proper decree of the Court, (3) for an accounting on the part of the City for the money collected by it from the use of the parking meters located on the land in question, or, for the payment of a reasonable rent for its use during the time that the City has had parking meters on it; (4) that the injunction prayed in (#2) hereinabove be made permanent at the hearing.

[493]*493The defendant filed pleas in abatement simultaneously with, but separately from, its answer. Said pleas question the authority of complainants to maintain a suit seeking rent or other compensation for the use of the land in question and, particularly, as pertains to any area outside of the “inner circle”, which is the land immediately involved.

The answer of the City is in great detail but, in substance, it denies that the County is the owner of the property comprising the “inner circle”, and asserts that there was a dedication by the County of the property in question to public use as a street and that, therefore, it is within the jurisdiction and control of the City of Murfreesboro.

III.

Assignments of Error

There are five assignments of error which complain that the Chancellor dismissed complainants’ bill without granting any of the relief prayed, it being the position of complainants that it was, and is, entitled to have an adjudication as to the ownership of the land described in the bill and the rights of the parties in respect thereto.

The assignments also assert that it was error to hold that the County had dedicated this disputed area as a public street, and that complainant was not entitled to the injunction prayed for and an accounting for money receiyed from the parking meters installed on said property.

The defendant filed two cross assignments of error asserting that the Chancellor erred in not sustaining the defendant’s pleas in abatement.

[494]*494IV.

There are several maps and drawings in the record which, along with some photographs, show very clearly the situation which is described in the bill and the answer.

Said maps show that Church Street and Maple Street run through the public square, and, as they pass through said square, they constitute a part of the paved or traveled portion of same on the East and West sides, respectively.

They also show that the Court House is located approximately in the center of the Square; that there is a curb around the North, East, South and West sides thereof ; that outside of said curb there is a paved inner circle extending from the aforementioned curb to the inside of a six foot concrete pavement, or sidewalk, around the outside of said circle; that there are openings on the East and West sides of this outside pavement, or sidewalk, which enable vehicles to enter and leave said “inner circle” where parking is permitted.

Outside of this six foot sidewalk it is not disputed that the remainder of the square is a traveled portion of same constituting a public thoroughfare or street.

The record does not show how much of the Square was enclosed in the Court House yard prior to 1870 or 1871. However, the minutes of the Quarterly County Court of the Jan. term 1871 show that a fence around the Court House was built on a stone foundation with a total perimeter of 807% feet. Thus, it is seen that in 1871, the Court House yard consisted of the area inside said fence which remained in the same location until it was removed by the County in 1917.

[495]*495The area on the Public Square, outside of said iron fence, was, for many years prior to 1917, open to pedestrians, horse, mule and vehicle travel and use. Horses and teams were hitched around it and the area was used to some extent for trade and commerce.

The record shows that from the late 1920’s until 1938 the City of Murfreesboro was making almost a continuous effort to persuade the County to allow it to use more of the Public Square for street purposes, and the County sought to cooperate with the City as is evidenced by resolutions passed by the County Court and by the City Council.

It is clear from the record that, during all this time, the County was seeking to preserve and protect the Court House property, including a suitable lawn or space around the Court House building.

Exhibit #9, (R. p. 99) is a resolution passed by the Quarterly County Court on October 1, 1928, which contains this language:

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Bluebook (online)
309 S.W.2d 778, 43 Tenn. App. 489, 1957 Tenn. App. LEXIS 132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rutherford-county-v-city-of-murfreesboro-tennctapp-1957.