Williams v. Kirby Lumber Corporation

355 S.W.2d 761, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2314
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1962
Docket6515
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 355 S.W.2d 761 (Williams v. Kirby Lumber Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Kirby Lumber Corporation, 355 S.W.2d 761, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2314 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

McNEILL, Justice.

This is an action of trespass to try title instituted by Kirby Lumber Corporation, appellee, herein called plaintiff, against L. L. Williams and Alamo Lumber Company, appellants, herein called defendants, whereby Kirby sued for the title to and possession of substantially 500 acres of land in the R. A. Irion League in Polk, Liberty and Hardin Counties and out of a tract of 2214 acres of said league set aside to A. P. Waterfield by partition deed dated December 2, 1878. The 500 acres sued for was described, insofar as necessary to understand the questions involved, in four more or less similar alternative ways as a segregated tract the south and east lines of which lie in the south and east lines of the league. A boundary dispute was also alleged which will be later set forth herein.

Defendants pleaded the general denial, plea of not guilty and as to plaintiff Kirby’s claim of title especially urged the provisions of the Statute of Frauds, Art. 3995 of this state, as a defense against any asserted validity on the part of Kirby Lumber Corporation as to instruments under which it deraigned title.

The case was tried before the court without a jury and at the conclusion of the trial, judgment was rendered sustaining plaintiff’s claim of title. Findings of fact were filed by the trial court.

It was stipulated that on June 9, 1877 A. P. Waterfield owned an undivided one-half interest in the R. A. Irion League; and that by partition deed dated December 2, 1878 a specific 2,214 acre tract in said league was set aside to him.

Thereafter Waterfield executed three deeds: (1) to B. G. Ezell, Trustee, dated September 27, 1880 and conveyed:

“1,000 acres in quality and value out of my 2,214 acre tract, which said 2,-214 acres is bounded as follows * * ”;

(2) to W. J. Cannon dated January 4, 1881, the granting clause of which reads :

“For and in consideration of the sum of $500.00 in hand paid, receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, I A. P. Waterfield, of the County of Oliran and State of Tennessee, have this day bargained, sold and conveyed to W. J. Cannon of the County of Carroll, and the state aforesaid, 500 acres of land, *763 it being a part of the headright league ■of land granted to R. A. Irion, situated in the County of Liberty, Polk and Hardin, about 32 miles north of the "Town of Liberty, 20 miles S. E. from the Town of Livingston, and about •30 miles N. W. from the Town of Hardin, in the State of Texas, and it being a part of 2,214 acres of said league which was conveyed by deed of partition to the said A. P. Waterfield, which 2,214 acres is bounded as follows, viz: * * *”;

(3) to Thomas B. Tharpe dated March 2, 1882, which reads:

“ * * * do hereby Transfer and Convey to Thomas B. Tharpe, of Cottage Grove, State of Tennessee, and ■County of Henry:
“714 acres of land, more or less, it being an undivided interest in the A. P. Waterfield Survey of 2,214 acres, which is a part of the headright league ■of land granted to R. A. Irion, situated in the County of Hardin, and Polk •and Liberty, State of Texas, about 32 miles N. of the town of Liberty, and about 20 miles S. E. from the town of Livingston, and about 30 miles N. W. from the town of Hardin; * ⅜ *

The owners of the 1,000 acre interest mentioned in (1) above are not involved in the suit, but the excerpt from the deed is quoted for the purpose of giving a clearer picture of what took place. It may be added that the owners of the 1000 acres, without complaint from others, in 1887 located their land off the west end of the Waterfield tract.

Plaintiff claims title under the second above quoted deed, the one from Waterfield to Cannon. When it was offered in evidence defendants objected for the reason that it was void, and as being violative of Art. 3995. It was asserted that since the deed did not describe any tract of 500 acres to be taken out of the tract of 2,214 acres set aside to Waterfield by the partition deed that it was of no effect. This contention is defendants’ second point. The point is without merit. As a sound premise for the solution of the question, the following language of Gaines, C. J., in Curdy v. Stafford, 88 Tex. 120, 30 S.W. 551, and 552 is appropriate:

“The language of a deed is the language of the grantor, and, if there [by any] doubt as to its construction, it should be resolved against him. Again, if an instrument admit of two constructions, one of which would make it valid, and the other of which would make it void, the former must prevail.”

There was no attempt in the deed to describe any 500 acres segregated area. This being so, the deed to the grantee for which he paid valuable consideration must fall unless it may be reasonably held that the grant- or intended to convey an undivided interest of 500 acres in the tract of 2,214 acres. He must have intended to convey some land, amounting to 500 acres in the one-half league. We think it, therefore, reasonable to conclude and we do conclude that by this deed he conveyed an undivided 500 acre interest in the 2,214 acres. The rule applicable is well stated in Dohoney v. Womack, 1 Tex.Civ.App. 354, 20 S.W. 950:

“ * * * When a deed conveys a certain number of acres, without describing the land conveyed, to be taken out of a larger tract described, the grantee becomes, by his deed, a tenant in common, having a fractional interest, represented by a fraction whose denominator is a number equal to the number of acres in the larger tract described, and whose numerator is a number equal to the number of acres conveyed. The grantee acquires such fractional interest in every acre of the larger tract.”

This is still the law. Turner v. Hunt, 131 Tex. 492, 116 S.W.2d 688, 690, 117 A.L.R. 1066, 1070; House v. Humble Oil & Ref. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 97 S.W.2d 314, (W.R.).

The construction placed upon the above deed is further supported by following the *764 3rd deed quoted from above, the one from Waterfield to Tharpe conveying 714 acres of land, more or less, it being an tmdivided interest in the tract of 2,214 acres. This was the 3rd and last deed made by Water-field, the first, it will be recalled, was for 1,000 acres, the second 500 acres, and the third 714 acres. The Tharpe deed having been made 13 months after the Cannon deed and calling for an “undivided interest” clearly indicates that Waterfield, in conveying the 1,000 acres and the 500 acres, intended each to be undivided interests. House v. Humble Oil & Ref. Co., supra, at p. 317; Heirs of Barrow v. Champion Paper & Fibre Co., Tex.Civ.App., 327 S.W.2d 338, 343.

The next link in plaintiff’s chain of title was a conveyance from W. J. Cannon to F. H. Kaupp and John J. Laumer dated June 8, 1903, wherein the land conveyed was described as follows:

“All that certain Five Hundred (500) acres of land, it being a part of the Headright League of land granted to R. A.

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Bluebook (online)
355 S.W.2d 761, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-kirby-lumber-corporation-texapp-1962.