T. & P. R'y Co. v. Durrett

57 Tex. 48, 1882 Tex. LEXIS 90
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedApril 28, 1882
DocketCase No. 4519
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 57 Tex. 48 (T. & P. R'y Co. v. Durrett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
T. & P. R'y Co. v. Durrett, 57 Tex. 48, 1882 Tex. LEXIS 90 (Tex. 1882).

Opinion

Stayton, Associate Justice.

The question whether the land which was appropriated by the appellant for its road-bed and way was the separate property of Mrs. Durrett, or the community property of herself and husband, was fairly submitted to the jury by the charge of the court, and their verdict involves a finding that the land over which the appellants constructed their road was the separate property of Mrs. Durrett; hence it becomes unnecessary to consider so much of the assignments of error as are based upon the theory that the land was the community property of Mrs. Durrett and her husband. The record exhibits proof amply sufficient to establish that the property was owned by Mrs. Durrett in her own separate right.

The appellants, after they had laid off their road across the land claimed by Mrs. Durrett, obtained from her husband, by a writing which she never signed, and contrary to her wish, an instrument which in terms purported to convey to the appellant the right of way over the land, which, so far as necessary now to be considered, was as follows: ' “Know all men by these presents, that I, John Durrett, in consideration of the sum of one dollar to me paid by the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, the receipt of which is [51]*51hereby acknowledged, do hereby bargain, sell, grant and convey unto said company the right of way through and over our present survey of my land situated in said county, embracing fifty feet on each side of the track of said road, together with the use of the wood, timber, water, etc., pertaining to the land so granted and conveyed, to have and to hold the same for the uses and purposes aforesaid unto said company and its successors forever,” etc. It is claimed that under this agreement, made by the husband, the company ac quired the rights which the husband undertook to convey thereby, even though the land was the separate property of the wife.

The statutes in force at the time the agreement between the husband and the appellant was made provided, as do those now in force, that the husband and wife should join in the conveyance of real estate the separate property of the wife (Pasch. Dig., 1003; R. S., 559); and provide how the acknowledgment to an instrument to convey her separate estate must be made. Pasch. Dig., 1003; R. S., 4310, 4313. Conveyances of such property not made in the manner prescribed by the statute are invalid. Berry v. Donley, 26 Tex., 737; Smith v. Elliott, 39 Tex., 201; Fitzgerald v. Turner, 43 Tex., 79. So far have the rights of the "wife been protected, that it has been held that the husband has no power by his own act even to sell personal property which is the separate property of the wife. Tucker v. Carr, 39 Tex., 98; 5 Tex., 201; 8 Tex., 180.

The conveyance from the husband to the company does not describe with certainty any particular land, but if we apply the description, “ our present survey of my land situated in said county,” to the land owned by Mrs. Durrett, then the inquiry arises, had the husband the power to make the conveyance which he did make?

The grant attempted to be made by the husband in terms purports to convey a perpetual easement in the land (Junction R. R. Co. v. Ruggles, 7 Ohio St., 1), or a qualified determinable fee, liable only to be divested if the estate is used for purposes other than that contemplated by the conveyance. State v. Brown, 3 Dutcher, 13.

Such a conveyance, if valid, is not revocable. New Jersey, Midland R. Co. v. Van Syelkle, 8 Vroom, 496.

Such a right as the conveyance by the husband purports to convey, if considered simply as an easement, is an interest in land which could only be created by deed or grant. Speaking of easements and the method of their creation, Mr. Washburn in his work on Servitudes and Easements says: “Those being interests in land can only be acquired by grant, and ordinarily by deed, or what is deemed to be equivalent thereto, a parol license being insufficient for the purpose.” [52]*52Washburn’s Servitudes and Easements, 23, where the authorities bearing upon this subject are collated.

The right attempted to be conveyed is, however, more than an easement in the legal acceptation of that term; in addition to granting a mere easement, it attempts to give the right to take something out of and from the soil, which is known in the books as a profit a prendre — a right coupled with a profit. Beferring to this subject in his work above referred to, p. 11, Mr. Washburn, commenting upon the case of Post v. Pearsall, 22 Wend., 425, says: “The distinction seems to be this: if the easement consists in a right of profit a prendre, such as taking soil, gravel, minerals, and the like, from another’s land, it is so far of the character of an estate or interest in the land itself, that, if granted to one in gross, it is treated as an estate, and may therefore be one for life or inheritance.”

Such being the character of the conveyance under which the appellant claims, if valid, it carries with it an interest and estate in the separate property of the wife which at no future time can be revoked, even after the power of the husband to control and manage her separate estate may cease by his death.

It attempts to give the right, not only for roadway, but also to use the wood, timber, water, soil, gravel or stone which may be on the land covered by the deed, for such purpose, and at any place, and to such extent as to the appellant may seem proper, although such use may render the land utterly valueless to the wife. The power to make such conveyance exists alone in the owner of the soil, and the statutes of this, state have vested no such power in a husband in reference to lands the separate property of the wife. The power of the husband over the separate estate of the wife is one of control and management, and not of alienation. “ This invests him with such control and powers as are incident and necessary to the due exercise of his authority, but gives him no power over matters affecting her right or title to the property, or to per-' form any act by which such title may be endangered.” McKay v. Treadwell, 8 Tex., 180. Hence we are of the opinion that the husband had no power to make the conveyance relied upon by the appellant, and that the same interposes no obstacle to the recovery sought by Hrs. Durrett.

It is urged that, as the deed was made to Hrs. Durrett during coverture, the deed from the husband, in the absence of notice to the appellant that the land was the separate property of the wife, must be effective. The pleadings of the appellant were not such as to [53]*53raise the question whether it was a purchaser for a valuable consideration without notice of the right of Mrs. Durrett; and the court did not err in sustaining the exception to the fourth paragraph of the answer; for the only material averment there was in that part of the answer, was that the property was community property. The same averment was contained in the preceding paragraph of the answer, of which appellant had the benefit.

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Bluebook (online)
57 Tex. 48, 1882 Tex. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/t-p-ry-co-v-durrett-tex-1882.