78 So. 9 | Miss. | 1918
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from a decree of the chancery court confirming title to certain lands in Harrison county under claim of title through the swamp land commissioner, created by'chapter 18, Laws, 1857, p. 69. The complainant Jones claims through a title under this act and through a táx sale made in 1897, whereat said lands were sold for taxes, and thereafter a suit con-firiñing the .tax title was filed and a decree obtained in the year 1905. In the year 1903 the state issued a patent to the said lands to Mattie Barksdale, and the appellants claim through this chain of title. The chain of title of each of the parties was introduced in evidence and the chancellor decreed for the complainant. It is the contention of the appellant that the sale by the swamp land commissioner did not divest the state of its title, and, therefore that the complainant failed to show title in themselves, and that the state having-issued the patent in 1903 the appellant acquired the title. Section 1 of chapter 18, Laws 1857, provides that the member of the board of police of said county of Harrison shall severally have full power and control over the swamp and overflowed lands in their respective district, and may sell to any person living on any of said lands, -or who may have the same in cultivation, or who may have erected buildings or machinery on said lands not exceeding one section at five cents per acre, and provides that when more than one person shall make application to enter any of said lands on the day
The report of the commissioner recites that the commissioner, in pursuance of the act of the legislature of the state of Mississippi entitled “An act to amend .an act entitled an act . . . donating swamp lands to certain counties, and the reclamation and disposition of said lands in Harrison county,” approved November 19, 1857, and after complying with all the requisites of said law and due and legal notice given as therein directed, he has sold to the following persons for the following prices on the days and dates therein mentioned, to wit, setting out a list of conveyances, including the lands in question, sold to Eugenia Isaacs on the 2d day of June, 1858. The law providing that the commissioner had the power of sale, and that a report of the sale spread upon the minutes should be received as evidence in the courts of the things therein recited, we think the title of the state to this land passed, and that this report of the commissioner is sufficient to vest the title in the purchaser, and is sufficient proof of that
Certain it is that the act conferred a perfect equitable title, and as this is a suit in equity the title of complainants is sufficient in the absence of proof of failure of the purchaser to comply with the act, or that the terms of the act were not complied with by the purchaser. The equitable title having passed, and the purchaser being entitled to have a patent issue, was sufficient to make the land taxable, and the tax sale would confer title to the tax purchaser. 27 Amer. & Eng. Ency. L., p. 644, clause “c” and note 3. The act in question (Laws 1857, chapter 18, p. 69) pointed to all parties interested a source where the information could be obtained, to wit, the minutes of the board of police of Harrison county. We therefore think the chancellor did not err in confirming the title, and the decree is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
(specially concurring). I think the-right result was reached by the chancellor in this case, and that the final decree appealed from should he affirmed. I have some doubt on the point discussed in the opinion of the court and the conclusion there'
“A copy of such report, duly authenticated, shall be evidence of the matters therein contained in any court of law or equity in this state.” • .
This report shows that the land in question was sold to Eugenia Isaacs in June, 1858. When it was sold and the consideration received and accepted by the duly constituted authorities- of the state, the equitable title passed, and the land was thereafter subject to taxation. Being subject to taxation, the lands were sold for taxes in 1897, and through this tax sale the complainant claims title. The legislature by the act of 1857 was attempting to dispose of the lands in a way to accomplish the purpose which the national Congress had in enacting the act of 1850 (Act Cong. Sept. 28, 1850, chapter 84, 9 Stat. 519 [U. S. Comp. St. 1916, sections 4958-4960]), granting the wet and overflowed lands to the state. The state evidently desired its inhabitants to enter and settle upon, these wet lands, drain, reclaim, and utilize them. The state permitted this land which had been duly sold by the swamp land commissioner to be placed upon the assessment rolls and state and county taxes to be exacted thereon and, so far as this record discloses, nowhere repudiated the sale made to Eugenia Isaacs. It is not shown that the written report of the swamp land commissioner of Harrison county was incorrect in any particular, and no suspicion is cast against this public record. The integrity of the record being unquestioned, it is competent evidence* of the sale, and at least shows that the equitable title passed from the state. If the
Affirmed.