24 Mo. 113 | Mo. | 1856
delivered the opinion of the court.
The question upon the trial of this cause was as to the proper location of one-half of the St. Louis common field lot conveyed by Chancillier to Gamache in January, 1773, under .which the plaintiff claimed the premises in question. The only description of the land given in the deed is in the language of the translation furnished us by the parties : “ One-half of an arpent of land in front by forty arpens in depth,” being “ a portion of a larger tract which he (Chancillier) owns, from having had the same conceded to him by the king, situate in the Grand Prairie, lying to the west of said post (St. Louis),, bounded on one side by the land of Jean Baptiste Hervieux, gun-smith, and on the other side by the part remaining to the’
Mr. Cozens testified to the effect that he was a land surveyor, and knew the Grand Prairie common fields; that he became acquainted with them in the course of his employment under the United States surveyor general as a deputy of that officer, during which he had located many lots in the southern part of these fields; that during the progress of the work, in which he was engaged about three years, he was required to investigate the claims lying south of the St. Charles road, in the course of which he examined old witnesses, who showed him the location of the earliest occupants of the land, and that he had in this manner become acquainted with the position of the lots in the Grand Prairie in early times, before the change of government.
In ordinary cases, the opinions of a witness can not be submitted to a jury, for the reason that it is the province of the jury and not of the witness to draw the proper inferences, for which purpose it is supposed they have sufficient knowledge. When, however, the solution of the question requires a degree of skill which is usually confined to persons exercising a particular act or profession, and is not possessed by men generally, persons skilled in such matters are allowed to give their
Although at the trial the evidence was received without objection, yet we are all clearly of opinion that it was insufficient to authorize the court to submit .the case to the jury, and the judgment is therefore affirmed.