Williams v. Seufert Bros.

188 P. 165, 96 Or. 163, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 156
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 2, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 188 P. 165 (Williams v. Seufert Bros.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Seufert Bros., 188 P. 165, 96 Or. 163, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 156 (Or. 1920).

Opinions

BEAN, J.

1. The preliminary question as to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court for Multnomah County should first be disposed of. It appears that the defendant R. E. Clanton, master fish warden, resides in the county of Multnomah and was there served with a summons in the cause. Two of the commissioners also resided in that county. All of the commissioners appeared generally and filed a demurrer. The defendant, Seufert Brothers Company, was served with a summons in Wasco County. After the defendant company made a special appearance and objected to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court of Multnomah County and moved to quash the summons, and such application was denied, it answered to the merits. This answer of the defendant company, while in form still objecting to the jurisdiction of the court, invokes a determination of the rights of the respective parties, and was a general appearance. Therefore, however, we may consider the question of jurisdiction in the first instance upon the filing of the complaint and the service of the summons upon the defendants, the Circuit Court of Multnomah County acquired complete jurisdiction by the general appearance of the defendants when some of the defendants demurred, and when the defendant company answered to the merits.

This principle is tersely enunciated by Mr. Justice Eakin in Jones v. Jones, 59 Or. 308 (117 Pac. 414). We considered a similar question in Sweeney v. Jackson County, 93 Or. 96 (178 Pac. 365, 370), where buttressed by a quotation from the opinion in the case of Sealy v. California Lumber Co., 19 Or. 94, [172]*17297 (24 Pac. 197), we held that a party cannot invoke the jurisdiction of a court and obtain the benefit of the decree, if it is in his favor, and claim contrary to such adjudication when the result is adverse to him: See Belknap v. Charlton, 25 Or. 41 (34 Pac. 758), and Winter v. Union Packing Co., 51 Or. 97 (93 Pac. 930).

We therefore conclude that the Circuit Court of Multnomah County had jurisdiction of the cause, in so far as the validity and efficacy of the licenses issued to the respective parties are concerned, upon which the main controversy hinges.

In order to make the question in dispute clear, we state the facts in regard to the issuance of licenses at and near the point in controversy, commencing in 1914, when Seufert Brothers Company made application to the master fish warden for and was granted a license, numbered “0-1,” dated April 1, 1914, to operate a scow fish-wheel situated 28.53 chains north and 12 chains west of quarter-section comer between sections 1 and 36, Townships 1 and 2 North, Range 13 East, W. M., in the Columbia River.

On March 23, 1914, Sam Williams made application for a license “to operate a fish-wheel in the Columbia River about two miles above The Dalles on the Oregon side at a place where I have had a wheel for three or four years. ’ ’ The following notation is on the application: “Lots 1 & 2 Sec. 1, Tp. 1 N., R. 13, E. W. M.” The license was issued and dated April 1, Í914. '

May 1, 1914, Williams applied- to have the location of the scow fish-wheel changed to read situated “on a point in the E. half of the S. W. % of Sec. 36, Tp. 2 N., R. 13, E., W. M., on the shore line of lands owned by the State of Oregon in front of Lot 3 of said Section.” The location was indorsed on the [173]*173license, and the following notation made thereon: “Location of wheel changed to conform with description hereon May 1, 1914.”

May 1, 1915, Senfert Brothers Company made application for a license at the • same point described in its application and license in 1914, and license “0-31” was issued to it, and dated May 28, 1915.

June 8, 1915, Williams applied to the master fish warden for a license to operate a scow fish-wheel at—

“That certain point situated 28.53 chains north and 12 chains west of the quarter-section corner between section 1 in township 1 and section 36 in township 2, both townships north of range 13 east of the Willamette Meridian, in the county of Wasco, State of Oregon, at the point where I have heretofore secured and fished under state license.”

The application was rejected for the reason that license numbered “0-31” had been issued to Seufert Brothers Company on May 28, 1915, for the identical place applied for. Mr. Williams was informed by letter from the master fish warden as follows:

“At the meeting of the board of Fish and Carne Commissioners at the Governor's office in Salem on May 26th, after going into the matter, it was decided that, inasmuch as license had been granted to the Seufert Brothers Company upon application submitted in 1914 describing a certain identical point, that they had no option other than to order the renewal of said license, as application had been submitted conforming with the laws regulating such matters.
“They also decided, and so instructed me, to renew the license of Sam Williams upon the renewal of application as submitted in 1914, provided that a renewal of the1 1914 license is desired. Therefore, should you still desire a license for a scow fish-wheel, it will be necessary for you to make an application describing the location required as was set [174]*174forth in the application submitted for a scow fish-wheel in 1914.”

January 3, 1916, Seufert Brothers Company applied for a license for a scow fish-wheel at the same point as described in their applications and licenses for the years 1914 and 1915, and the license was issued and dated April 1, 1916.

On April 5, 1916, Sam Williams applied for a license for a scow fish-wheel, describing the location “at my accustomed place described more particularly on margin hereof:

(On margin) “Description of location: That certain , portion of the rocks which at low water constitute the South bank of the Columbia river opposite Lot numbered three in Section 36, Township 2 North of Range 13, East of the Willamette Meridian being in particular a certain point situated 28.53 chains North and 12 chains West of the quarter section corner between section 1 in Township one and Section 36 in Township two, both Townships North of Range 13 East of said Willamette Meridian in Wasco county, state of Oregon.”

On May 5, 1916, a license was issued to him to operate a scow fish-wheel at the point described in the application, which is in effect identical with the location for the scow fish-wheel of Seufert Brothers Company described in their license of April 1, 1916.

The gist of the controversy in this suit is in regard to the conflicting licenses issued to Seufert Brothers Company and plaintiff Williams in 1916, the other licenses having expired when this suit was brought.

The importance of the - fishing industry in this state has demanded- and had the benefit of the judgment of the lawmakers of the state at several different times. Prior to 1914, it seems no definite point was named in the license for a scow fish-wheel. In [175]*175order to further regulate fishing in the Columbia River, Chapter 188, General Laws of Oregon 1915, p. 226, was enacted. Section 2 of this act reads thus:

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Williams v. Seufert Bros.
188 P. 165 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1920)

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Bluebook (online)
188 P. 165, 96 Or. 163, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-seufert-bros-or-1920.