23 Fla. 565 | Fla. | 1887
delivered the opinion of the court:
We feel satisfied that the consideration for the tax certificate was paid by the complainant and his sister Jennie, who subsequently intermarried with Rorman B. Sterrett, one of the defendants. Though it is not expressly proved when the transfer of the certificate to Alexander Lofton, the father, was executed by Brown, the presumption is that it was done at the time he sold it to the children. This transfer or assignment is endorsed on the back of the certificate, and, although it is without date, it is proved that the certificate was carried by the children from Brown to their father, and there is nothing to show that Brown ever had any further connection with it. As against the father a trust resulted in the certificate, and in the rights it gave to a title to the land, and was carried into the land itself by the subsequent acquisition of the legal title by the father under the certificate. Perry on Trusts, sections 124, 126, 130, 127, 148. He admits the trust.
What the exact amount of-the consideration paid to Brown, or the portion of it paid by each of the two children was, we are not informed.
The answer of Rorman B. Sterrett states that at the time the deed from the father to Mrs. Sterrett was executed the matter was discussed in his presence by the father, and the
The letter of July 30,1882, from complainant to Normau B. Sterrett, must be regarded as referring to the property in question ; and it shows that the complainant was acting as agent of the defendant in renting and managing the property and paying taxes, and that he regarded it as the prop, erty of the mother and the three defendants, her heirs. The following statement of the letter: “ In fact, Mr. Sterrett, had I used any of the rent I would not be doing anything but right; but as father saw fit to satisfy one whom he loved, by taking my share, he did so. I do not regret it as to her and her young, but I do not want to be censured by you every year as to the tax, &c.,” and the allegations of the answer as to the $16, and the discussion at the time of the execution of the deed to Mrs. Sterrett, and the fact of the recognition of the title of her heirs, (her husband and children,) derived from her, and consequently of her title under this deed, produce in our minds the conclusion that there was an assent upon complainant’s part to the conveyance to Mrs. Sterrett, and that he did not at the time of the execution of such deed to her claim any resulting trust in the land conveyed by it.
It is true that at the time the conveyance to Mrs. Sterrett was made the complainant was a minor, but according to the testimony of one of the two witnesses who speak as to his age, he reached his majority in 1880, and he, by his acts,
The rule in cases of this character is, that the complainant’s proof must be full, and clear and unequivocal. Baker vs. Vining, 30 Me., 121; Sayre vs. Fredericks, 17 N. J. Eq., 205 ; 11th Humphreys, 83. If we ignore the objections of the inadmissibility and illegality of some of the testimony as relating to transactions with a deceased person, and consider all of it as set forth in the statement of the ■ease, we still find ourselves unable to say that we are satisfied from the proofs that the complainant is entitled to a decree that he is the equitable owner of any particular portion or interest in, or quantity of, the land in question. The proofs do not justify any such decree against the heirs of Mrs. Sterrett. Baker vs. Vining, supra ; McGowan vs. McGowan, 14 Gray, 119 ; Olcott vs. Bynum, 17 Wall., 44 ; Reynolds vs. Morris, 17 Ohio St., 510. The burden is upon the complainant to make clear proof of his case, and to enable the court to decree that he is entitled to a definite interest in the land as against the party holding the legal title; and if he fails to do this the bill must be dismissed. It has, we are aware, been held that in the absence of spe
The decree is affirmed.