48 W. Va. 463 | W. Va. | 1900
R. Snowdon appeals from the decree of the circuit court of Harrison County pronounced against him on the 29th day of September, 1898, for the sum of eleven thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine dollars and twenty-three cents, with interest and
This cause was in this Court before, and was remanded, with directions that the appellant be restored to the possession of his farm, and that the balance of purchase money for which he is liable be acsertained by deducting therefrom the rents and profits accrued, less the taxes. For a further statement of the case see 22 W. Va. 180. On return of the cause to the circuit court a decree was entered restoring appellant to possession of his lands and referring the question of purchase money, rents and profits less taxes to commissioner Horner for ascertainment. The commissioner returned his report by which on calculation of the purchase money, rents and interest, he brought the appellant out ahead to the amount of thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty-five dollars and forty-two cents. Numerous exceptions were filed to this report. By decree of September 25, 1889, the circuit court sustained a number of these exceptions and overruled others, and then proceeded to determine on what principles the commissioner to whom the cause was recommitted should make up his report. It changed the annual rental as fixed by the commissioner from one thousand dollars to eight hundred and nineteen dollars, and then gave the following directions: “The commissioner shall take no account for the clearing of the land stated in these proceedings to be about one hundred acres, nor shall he take any account for the timber taken therefrom, the court being of the opinion that the charge for clearing said land is compensated by the timber taken from the same; that said Andrews shall be charged one thousand dollars for improvements, buildings, fencing, etc., with interest on same or the parts thereof from the time the same were made; that the said Andrews be charged with the sum of one hundred dollars annually for repairs, cutting filth, fencing, etc., with interest from the end of each year; that the said Andrews be charged with taxes paid with interest on the several amounts from the end of each year for which the taxes were paid.” The commissioner to whom the cause was recommitted returned his report with his calculations made according to the directions of the court and brought the appellant out in debt to the amount of eight thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine dollars and ninety-four cents as of November 25, 1887. This report was excepted
The first question presented is as to the right of the circuit court to arbitrarily'reject the finding of a commissioner as to a question of fact, and substitute its own finding in lieu thereof. “The conclusions of a master in chancery depending on the weight of conflicting testimony, have every reasonable presumption in their favor and are not to be set aside, unless there clearly appears to have been error or mistake on his part.-” Tilghman v. Proctor, 125 H. S. 136. “Every presumption is made in favor of the correctness of the decision of the commissioner in chancery. If the' testimony is conflicting the court rarely interferes with his finding on the facts, peovided he makes no ERROR oe law aeeecting the Result'’ Hartman v. Evans, 38 W. Va. 669. “Where questions purely of fact are referred to a commissioner to be reported upon, the findings of the commissioner, while not as conclusive as the verdict of a jury, will be given great weight, and should be sustained unless it plainly' APPEARS THAT THEY ARE NOT WARRANTED BY ANY REASONABLE view oe tiie evidence'’ Fry v. Feamster, 36 W. Va. 454; Rogers v. O’Neal, 33 W. Va. 159; Handy v. Scott, 26 W. Va. 710; Graham v. Graham, 21 W. Va. 698; Boyd v. Gunnison, 14 W. Va. 1. As to a proper rent charge in this case, the evidence is highly conflicting, so that reasonable men may widely differ with regard thereto, depending on their knowledge, experience prejudices and feelings. The court could have directed an issue to a jury to determine the same, but the parties not asking that this be done, the court submitted the matter to- a commissioner. Pie reported that the rents and profits amounted on an average to the sum of one thousand dollars per year since the 1st day
Commissioner Horner reported “that the use of the land for raising grain after it was cleared by Lynch and the timber taken off the land by Lynch was equal to the cost of clearing the land and building the houses.” The appellant took no exceptions to this report, and hence he is bound by it.
The court on the exception of James Lynch directed commissioner Thompson to take “no account for the clearing of the
Reversed.