64 Fla. 242 | Fla. | 1912
On January 11th, 1904, a commissioner appointed by the probate court executed to C. B. McLeod & Company, a lease of trees for turpentine purposes on lands belonging to minors, the appellees.
The instrument executed was in terms “to lease timber for turpentine purposes upon real estate belonging to” the minors. It provides that the commissioner pursuant to the order of the court “and in consideration of the sum of Thirty-two and 50-100 dollars, per thousand turpentine boxes, to be paid for when timber is boxed, does by these presents, grant, lease, let and convey unto the said parties of the second part, their heirs and assigns, for the full period of three years from the date of cutting of each and every parcel of said timber, all the rights, title and interest of said minors in and to all the timber for turpentine purposes upon the” lands described, “to have and to hold the above granted timber, together with the appurtenances and every part thereof, unto the said parties of the second part, their heirs and assigns, for the full period of three years from the cutting of each and every part thereof.”
C. B. McLeod & Company assigned their rights in the lease to Malloy Bros. & Turner, who assigned to the Dow-ling Lumber & Naval Stores Company, who assigned to ilie Dowling Park Naval Stores Company.
In the final decree, the court determined that the lease ‘'gave the lessees and their assigns the right to box, work and use said timber for turpentine purposes for a period of three years from date of boxing the same, and that lessees and their assigns under said lease had only a reasonable time within which to enter and box said timber, and upon failure to exercise such right within a reasonable time, the right so granted ceased; that the rights and privileges granted are not indefeasible, but determinable within a reasonable time from the date of the instrument; that a reasonable time for boxing, working and using said timber for turpentine purposes under the said lease had elapsed at the time of the filing of complainants’ bill under all facts and circumstances of this case and the conditions surrounding the parties at the time of the execution of the lease;” therefore, the lease and the transfers théreof were ordered cancelled, and an appropriate injunction decreed.
It is contended that under the rule announced in Cawthon v. Stearns & Culver Lumber Co., 60 Fla. 313, 53 South. Rep. 738, the lapse of time between January 11th, 1904, when the lease was made and December 10th, 1910, when the bill was filed, is not sufficient to terminate the rights of the lessees- and those holding through them under the lease.
In this case the Circuit Court properly held that the lease gave to the lessees and their assigns the right to box, work and use said timber for turpentine purposes for a period of three years from date of boxing the same, and that the lessees and their assigns had only a reasonable time within which to enter and box said timber, so the period of three years would begin to run, and upon failure to exercise such right by cutting or boxing the trees wiihin a reasonable time from the date of the lease, the rights under the lease would cease.
It appears that at the time the lease was executed, it was understood between the lessees and the guardian of the minors who owned the property, that the cutting or boxing of the trees on the lands covered by the lease for turpentine purposes was to be done during the season of 1904 and 1905, the lease having been made in January, 1904. There is also evidence that this understanding was communicated by the lessee to his assignee.
Considering the terms of the lease granting three years for extracting the turpentine after boxing, the single purpose for which the standing timber was to be used, the fact that the consideration was “the sum of Thirty-
The decree is affirmed.