Stokely v. Conner

68 So. 452, 69 Fla. 412
Supreme Court of Florida·Decided April 20, 1915·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

Taylor, C. J.

(after stating the facts.) — To overturn said decree the appellants seem to reply here mainly upon the three propositions, vis: (1) That the appellees have not shown themselves- to have any title to the claimed undivided one-half interest in the particular one thousand acres described in the bill. That the undivided one-half interest in a 1000 acre grant shown to have been conveyed by Pedro Miranda to Joseph S. Sanchez and subsequently levied upon and sold under an execution and judgment against said Joseph S. Sanchez and purchased at the sale by the ancestor of the complainants below formed no part of the 1000 acre grant to Pedro Miranda that is described in the bill, but consisted of an entirely different tract. (2.) That the deed made by the Coroner of St. Johns County to the ancestor of the complainants in pursuance of an execution sale under a judgment against Joseph S. Sanchez, he being at the time Sheriff of the County* conveyed no title because no judgment against said Joseph S. Sanchez was shown or proven for the enforcement of which said execution was issued under which said sale was made. (3) That even if the complainants below showed title in themselves they are barred by adverse occupancy and possession for a period of seven years by the defendants below.

As to the first of these contentions we are satisfied upon [438] a careful consideration of the evidence in the record before us that the land as described in the bill in which the complainants below claim an undivided one-half interest and estate is the same land confirmed by the United States Land Commissioners to Pedro or Peter Miranda- and in which Pedro Miranda subsequently conveyed by deed to Joseph S. Sanchez an undivided one-half interest and that this undivided half interest is in the same tract that was subsequently sold as the property of Joseph S. Sanchez by the Coroner of the County to satisfy- an execution against him. Some ground for confusion in the description arises out of the fact that in some of the mesne conveyances the names of different parties are given as being the owners of adjoining and bounding tracts, and because some of the ancient mesne conveyances mentioned “Blides Old Field” as being the situs of the tract, and the appellants contend that they have shown “Blides Old Field” to be located only about one and a half or two miles outside of the City of St. Augustine, whereas the land in controversy is situated some eighteen miles North of said city. We will remark in passing that the evidence relied upon by the appellants as locating “Blides Old Field” seems to us to be quite unreliable and at best hearsay. It was deposed by a son of the said Joseph S. Sanchez who related that on one occasion in driving 'along the road going into St. Augustine his father pointed out a place to him near the road and told him that was what was known as “Blides Old Field”, and that the place so pointed out to him was not over two and a half miles from the city.. But in spite of these seeming discrepancies in the descriptions given in the different mesne. conveyances the fact remains indisputable that there was but one grant, confirmed by the United States to Pedro'Miranda [439] situated on the West side of North river with that river as its Eastern boundary, and containing 1000 acres, and that he subsequently conveyed an undivided one half interest in the 1000 acre grant thus confirmed to him to Joseph S. Sanchez, and that the United States Government subsequently had. this grant of 10.00 acres to Pedro Miranda surveyed locating it in the sections,.township and range as alleged in the bill. The said Pedro Miranda subsequently conveying to his daughter Rufina Miranda the remaining undivided one-half interest. The said Rufina subsequently intermarrying with one pisbee, by whom he had several children, and from these children as the heirs at law of their mother the said Rufina Bisbee the appellants, the Stokelys, have obtained quit-claim deeds so- worded as to convey in the aggregate the whole of said 1000 acre grant, but which in law and in fact can convey only such interest as they inherited in said tracts the same being an undivided one-half interest therein.

The second of the above contentions cannot avail the appellants at this time or here, for the reason that said Coroner’s deed made in pursuance of a public sale of said land under an execution against Joseph S. Sanchez was admitted in evidence without any objection to the effect that before it became admissible the judgment and execution under which such sale was made, .should have been introduced as a predicate for its admission. Had, this objection been made and urged at the. time the Coroner’s deed was offered in evidence, or. before the Chancellor,, the complainant would have had an opportunity, to introduce the missing judgment;'but by-their failure to .object upon this ground they must be held to have waived the objection and to have consented to the admission of the deed with all the probative force of which as such, it, upon [440] its face, purported to possess. Simmons v. Spratt, 20 Fla. 495; Sullivan v. Richardson, 33 Fla. 1, 14 South. Rep. 692.

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Stokely v. Conner, 68 So. 452, 69 Fla. 412 (Fla. 1915).

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