State Ex Rel. Johnson v. City of Sarasota

109 So. 473, 92 Fla. 563
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedAugust 6, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 109 So. 473 (State Ex Rel. Johnson v. City of Sarasota) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Johnson v. City of Sarasota, 109 So. 473, 92 Fla. 563 (Fla. 1926).

Opinions

*571 Brown, C. J.,

(after stating the facts) :

The demurrer to the answer raises two primary questions: (1) Whether the description of the territorial limits is so indefinite as to render the act invalid, and (2) whether the act is rendered unconstitutional by including within the territorial limits some sixty-odd square miles of territory, many sections of which are sparsely or wholly uninhabited.

I. As to the first question, the charge of uncertainty is based on the description of the eastern boundary — especially by reason of the inclusion of the words indicated by italics in the following quotation from the act:

“Running thence South on the range line between ranges eighteen (18) and nineteen (19) to Township 37, thence on the township line to the Northeast corner of Township 37, thence South on the range line to the Southeast corner of Section 25 in Township 37 South, Range 18 East;” etc.

*572 In fact, the italicized portion might be confined to the words, “thence on the township line to the Northeast corner of Township 37," which, if omitted, would unquestionably leave a description of an unbroken section boundary line.

It is contended that these italicised words might, standing alone, denote a line running East along the Northern boundary of the tier of townships in Township 37, to the Atlantic Ocean, but that inasmuch as the title and language of the act confine the description to Sarasota County, the words quoted must denote a line running East from the Northeast corner of said Township 37 in Range 18, 'to the Northeast corner of said Township in Range 19, six miles distant.

It is obvious that the only way to supply the call next succeeding the italicized words above quoted, so as to comply with language of such succeeding call, would be to run a line South on the range line between ranges 18 and 19, which would strike the ‘1 Southeast corner of Section 25 in Township 37 South Range 18 East," which means that one would have to go back to the original point where the eastern bounary line, following the range line between Ranges 18 and 19, running South, strikes said Township 37, (being the Northeast corner of Township 37, Range 18) and this would mean a straight, unbroken boundary line marking the Eastern boundary of the municipal territory. It is impossible to follow the italicized call, “thence on the township line to the northeast corner of Township 37, ’ ’ and then run ‘ ‘ South on the range line to the Southeast corner of Section 25, in Township 37, South, Range 18 East.” So the effect of these italicized words is to run a dead-end line out from the eastern boundary, which encloses nothing, and leaves the eastern boundary line unbroken.

If a surveyor, by applying the rules of surveying, can locate the land as described in a deed, the description is *573 sufficient; and a deed will be sustained if it is possible to ascertain and identify the land intended to be conveyed. Ansley v. Graham, 73 Fla. 388, 74 So. 505, and cases cited. The government rules do not require the location of boundaries to be ascertained by tracing the line from the starting point merely. It is permissible to begin at any definite corner or monument, and run a reverse course if necessary to harmonize all the calls of the description. Ayres v. Watson, 137 U. S. 584, 34 L. Ed. 803; Simmons Creek Coal Company v. Doren, 142 U. S. 417, 35 L. Ed. 1063.

Applying this principle, by following the description of the eastern boundary line from its beginning at the Northeast corner of Section 1, Township 36, South, Eange 18 Bast, thence South on the range line between Eanges 18 and 19 to Township 37, which means, of course, the North boundary line of Township 37 at a point on the range line between Eanges 18 and 19, and then go down to the Southeast corner of the tract of land described by the act, and, reversing the description, begin at the Southeast corner of Section 25 in Township 37 South, Eange 18 East, thence run North on the range line to the North line of Township 37, we find that the line from said Southeast corner of Section 25, running North, strikes the Northern boundary line of Township 37 at the same point where the line running South from the Northeast corner of Section 1, Township 36 South, Eange 18 East, above described, also strikes said line, thus tying in and enclosing the eastern boundary line as. one continuous straight line, following the range line, from the Northeast corner of Section 1, Township 36 South, Eange 18 East, to the Southeast corner of Section 25, Township 37, South, Eange 18 East. Th.is harmonizes with the manifest purpose of the act, for in the first part of the description set forth in the act we find this language: “All that portion of Sarasota County bounded on the North by the Manatee County line, on the East by a line running *574 North and South on range line, beginning at the Northeast corner of Section 1 of Township 36 South, Range 18 East, running thence South on range line between Ranges 18 and 19,” etc. This shows that the words, “thence on the township line to the Northeast corner of Township 37,” above referred to, appearing in the act, are superfluous and ineffectual. It is idle to speculate on how and why they were included in the act. Suffice it to say that, applying the ordinary rules of surveying, pertaining to the running of boundary lines, as well as the dictates of common sense, the description as a whole, as contained in the act, clearly describes and encloses a definite area or tract of land. All reasonable presumptions must be indulged by the courts in favor of the validity of legislative enactments, and the rules with reference to the construction of descriptions of municipal territory in acts of the Legislature are more liberal than those applying to descriptions in notices of incorporation and resolutions adopted by incorporators of municipalities under our general laws. In Lane v. The State, 63 Fla. 220, 57 So. 662, it was said: “Where the descriptions of territory incorporated as a municipality bjr a special law does not utterly fail to cover some area, and the description is not so uncertain .as to make it impossible to determine the territory intended to be included in the municipality, the law is not void for uncertainty of description. ’ ’

It is apparent, therefore, that those grounds of the demurrer to the answer attacking the sufficiency of the description of the municipal territory, as described in the Act of November 30, 1925, are not well founded.

II. Now as to the second question, or group of questions, raised by the demurrer. Eliminating the bay and Keys, the mainland included within the city limits, as extended by the act, is seven miles wide on the North, eleven miles long on the East, and about 3% miles wide on the South, *575

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Bluebook (online)
109 So. 473, 92 Fla. 563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-johnson-v-city-of-sarasota-fla-1926.