Vergara v. Kenyon

261 S.W. 1009
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMay 21, 1924
DocketNo. 456-3975
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 261 S.W. 1009 (Vergara v. Kenyon) 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
Vergara v. Kenyon, 261 S.W. 1009 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1924).

Opinion

POWELL, P. J.

The nature and result of this cause have been accurately stated by the Court of Civil Appeals in the following language:

“Appellee brought this suit to recover against appellant survey No. 1671 for 640' acres of land in Webb county located by virtue of script issued to O. C. S. D. R. G. N. Ry. Co.
“The defense was not guilty and the ten-year statute of limitations.
“The case was tried before the court without a jury, and a judgment was entered for the appellee, based upon the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, made and filed by the court, to wit:
“ ‘Findings of Fact.
“ ‘First. I find as a fact that the plaintiff, Clark M. Kenyon, is vested with the record title to the tract of land in controversy, viz., survey No. 1671, certificate No. 1169, grantee, C. C. S. D. R. G. N. R. R. Co., abstract No. 1127, in Webb county, Tex., containing 640 acres of land.
“ ‘Second. That defendant, Ygnacio Vergara, in the year 1907 inclosed the tract of land in controversy with five other surveys of 640 acres each, and since said date up to the present time has complied with all the requirements of the ten-year statute of limitation, and is entitled to recover unless precluded by the provisions of articles 5677 and 5678, R. S. No part of survey 1671 has been used by him for agricultural or manufacturing purposes, and there are no improvements thereon except the fence on the east and north sides.
“ ‘Third. That the fence inclosing said pasture where said survey is located runs along the eastern and northern boundary line of said survey, and forms a partition fence between the pasture where the tract of land in controversy is located and an adjoining pasture, owned, claimed and fenced by the defendant, Ygnacio Vergara, which contains 5,760 acres.
“ ‘Fourth. That all fences and the cross-fence have been continuously on said land since the year 1907 up to the present time.
“ ‘Fifth. That the map, Exhibit A, hereto attached, shows the true location of the tract of land in controversy and the position of the fences and cross-fence inclosing the two pastures inelosed by the defendant.
“ ‘Sixth. That the rental value of said land from October 18, 1920, to October 18, 1922, is $192.
“ ‘Conclusions of Law.
“ ‘First. That the defendant has not had the peaceable and adverse possession contemplated by article 5675, R. S., for the reason that the holdings of the defendant in the pasture where the tract of land in controversy is located, to wit, 3,840 acres, together with his holdings in the adjoining pasture, to wit, 5,760 acres, make a total of 9,600 acres, and there' being no actual possession and no part of said land being used for agricultural or manufacturing purposes, brings this ease within the purview of article 5678, R. S.
“ ‘Second. That the defendant has not had the peaceable and adverse possession contemplated by article 5675, R. S., for the reason that the tract of land in controversy is entirely surrounded by lands owned, claimed, or fenced by the defendant, and is not segregated and separated from the circumscribing lands by a fence, except as shown on the map hereto attached, and, no part thereof being used for agricultural or manufacturing purposes, [1010]*1010brings this case within the purview of article 5677, R. S.
“ ‘Third. The case coming within the purview of articles 5677 and 5678, the title is with plaintiff.
“ ‘Fourth. That plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of $192 as rents for said premises.’
“We think the facts as found by the court, clearly apparent also from the map, lead to the conclusion that the judgment of the trial court and his conclusions based thereupon are correct, and are here adopted as the opinion of this court. We see no error committed that requires a reversal, and the judgment is affirmed.”

See 249 S. W. 514.

As indicated in the findings of fact filed by the trial court, the same were accompanied by a map and plat of the land in question. Such plat accompanies the opinion of the Court of .Civil Appeals on file among the papers in this case and can also be found in the Southwestern Reporter at the place heretofore indicated.

Writ of error wsis granted by the Supreme Court upon the alleged conflict between the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals in the instant case and its own former opinion in the case of Howard’s Unknown Heirs et al. v. Skolant et al., 162 S. W. 978.

In the case at bar-, the lower courts hold that plaintiff in error is precluded from recovering the land in suit by virtue of articles 5677 and 5678 of Vernon’s Sayles’ Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, and each of said articles. In holding that article 5678 applies to the land in suit, the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals is in conflict with the ease of Howard’s Unknown Heirs v. Skolant, supra. In the latter case the Court of Civil Appeals held that where one tract of land, under a common fence, containing about 8,-000 acres, was subdivided by a cross-fence into two separate pastures, one containing about 3,800 acres, the statute aforesaid had no application; that neither pasture contained 5,000 acres by itself.

In the case at bar, we have, 9,600 acres entirely surrounded by a fence. But 3,840 acres are cut off by a cross-fence from another pasture of 5,760 acres. The Court of Civil Appeals holds that since there are 9,600 acres of land in a body, the acreage exceeds 5,000 acres, and that article 5678 applies; in other words, that the statute cannot be avoided by one whq owns more than 5,000 acres of land by his act in separating his entire holdings by cross-fences. Therefore the Court of Civil Appeals'holds, in the instant case, that article 5678 does apply, even though the land in suit is in the pasture containing only 3,840 acres.

Article 5675 of our statutes reads:

“Any person who- has the right of action for the recovery of any lands, tenements or here-ditaments against another having peaceable and adverse possession thereof, cultivating, using or enjoying the same, shall institute his suit therefor within ten years next after his cause of action shall have accrued, and not afterward.”

Article 5677 of our statutes reads:

. “A tract of land owned by one person, entirely surrounded by a tract or tracts owned, claimed or fenced by another, shall not be considered inclosed by a fence inclosing the circumscribing tract or tracts, or any part thereof; nor shall the possession by the owner or claimant of such circumscribing land of such interior tract be the peaceable and adverse possession contemplated by article 5675, unless the same be segregated and separated from the circumscribing land by a fence, or unless at least one-tenth thereof be cultivated and used for agricultural purposes, or used for manufacturing purposes.”

Article 5678 of our statutes reads:

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Bluebook (online)
261 S.W. 1009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vergara-v-kenyon-texcommnapp-1924.