58 Mo. 261 | Mo. | 1874
delivered the opinion of the court.
Action of ejectment for the west half of the north-east quarter of section 14, in township 50, of range 6 west, situate in Montgomery County. The answer admitted possession of the land sued for, but denied the other allegations of the petition;
The cause was tried on the following agreed statement of facts: “That one Isaac Y. Herrick was the patentee of the land in controversy, and in March, 1837, conveyed the land situ
This case hinges upon the proper construction to be given to § 8 of “an act to quiet vexatious land litigation,” approved February 2,1847. And it may be remarked in the outset, that the court below tried this cause under a total misconception as to the force, effect, and operation of the section referred to, which is as follows:
“ The records heretofore made by the recorder of the proper county, by copying from any deed of conveyance, deed of trust, mortgage, will or copy of a will, that has neither been proven or acknowledged, or which has been proven of acknowledged, but not according to the law in force at the time the same was done, shall, from and after the passage of this act, impart notice to all persons of the contents of such instruments, and all subsequent purchasers and mortgagees shall be deemed, in law and equity, to purchase with notice thereof.”
But the court below went further than this, holding “that although Wilcox, in 1839, bought the land in controversy, under an execution against Herrick, for a valuable consideration, and received a deed therefor and placed the same on record at once, and that he so bought without any'notice of the existence of the prior deed from Herrick to Fyler, acknowledged before a justice of the peace of Pike County, Missouri; and although said Wilcox could hold said land as against said Fyler or those claiming under him, yet, as Wilcox conveyed said land to Beshears in 1859, and after the act of the second day of February, 1847, was passed, making the record of such deed from Herrick to Fyler constructive notice to subsequent purchasers — and as defendant claims by deed from Beshears made since the deed of his (Beshear’s) deed— both Beshears and defendant are in law purchasers with constructive notice of the record of said Fyler’s deed, and take subject to the same, and cannot protect themselves as purchasers from Wilcox.”
In other words, the astounding doctrine is gravely announced that, up to the second day of February, 1847, Wilcox had a perfect and indefeasible title to the laud in controversy, and could convey the same as freely as any other owner in
The legislature never intended by the act of 1847, to perpetrate such a gross injustice, coupled with such a palpable absurdity; and even had they in express terms so declared, the enactment of such a law would only have proved a sheer legislative abortion.
The judgment is reversed, and as it is evident that a new trial could be of no avail to the plaintiffs, their petition will be dismissed;