42 S.E.2d 360 | Ga. | 1947
A deed wherein the description of the property sought to be conveyed is so vague and indefinite as to afford no means of identifying any particular tract of land is inoperative either as a conveyance of title or as color of title. Since the plaintiff relied for a recovery upon such a deed, the trial court did not err in granting a nonsuit.
On the trial the plaintiff sought to show title to the land in dispute, relying upon a deed executed to him in 1944, which contained the following description: "All that tract or parcel of land lying and being in 7th District and 2nd Section of Fannin County, and being part of Lots Nos. 64, 65, 44 and 45, of said District and Section, and described as follows: Beginning at a point, approximately two (2) feet from Earl Ballew's garage and running Northeast the old Morganton-Ellijay road to a conditional stake corner at the Maple Swamp; thence along the settlement road in a Southeasterly direction until it reaches the North-South original line; thence along the original line to near a white oak tree; thence in a Southeasterly direction to the original East-West line and along this line to the top of Long Mountain, between Lots Nos. 64 and 45; thence South along the top of Long Mountain, the water shed marking the course of the line to a persimmon *177 bush corner; thence West to the original land lot line between land lots No. 64 and 65; thence along said original line to a locust stake near a spring; thence diverging in a semicircular shape and the course of the line marked by trees, fully described in a deed from Margaret Bailey to John B. Tipton, said line converging with the original line at the Northwest rock corner; thence along the West original line to the branch; thence Northeast with the meanderings of the branch to the fence across the hill in a Northwest direction and along with this fence to the beginning point near Earl Ballew's garage on the old Morganton-Ellijay road, said tract containing 120 acres, more or less."
There was some evidence offered by the plaintiff to the effect that the property described in the petition was embraced within the description contained in the deed. The plaintiff testified: "I note the deed which you exhibit to me, being deed from H. R. Hackney to me, and I have heard you just read the description of the property set out in my petition in this case. That is a description of the very property I bought and that is the property in dispute in this case. That is a part of the property I bought, and it is the property in dispute now." Another witness testified: "I am familiar with the tract of land, a description of which you have just read me from the petition, and which the plaintiff alleges he is the owner of and holds title to. . . The tract of land, the description of which you have just read me was embraced in the tract of land that I was in possession of as one of these grantors. It is embraced in that description you have just read me." Other witnesses offered by the plaintiff testified that they were unable to state whether the land described in the petition was embraced within the description contained in the plaintiff's deed. The undisputed evidence showed that the land in dispute is woodland, and that neither the plaintiff nor his predecessors have had actual possession of this tract. At the conclusion of the plaintiff's case, the trial court granted a nonsuit. The exception is to this judgment.
1. This case turns on the quoted description contained in the plaintiff's deed. We may concede, as is urged by counsel for the plaintiff, that the evidence was sufficient to show *178
that the tract of land sued for is embraced within the land purportedly conveyed by the plaintiff's deed. Still we think the plaintiff's evidence insufficient to show title to the property in controversy, for the deed upon which he relies is void because of in definiteness of description. "The description of the land in a deed must be sufficiently certain to afford means of identification. A deed purporting to convey land which is so indefinite in description that the land is incapable of being located is inoperative either as a conveyance of title or as color of title. . . A deed is not invalid where the description is imperfect, if the instrument refers to extrinsic data by means of which the land may be identified Likewise an ambiguous descriptive clause may be aided by aliunde evidence. But such imperfect or ambiguous descriptions must not be confounded with a description utterly lacking in definiteness. A deed which fails to describe any particular land or to furnish any key to the confines of the land purporting to be conveyed is void."Luttrell v. Whitehead,
The description in the plaintiff's deed is lacking in a key "to the confines of the land purporting to be conveyed." It will be noted that the plaintiff's deed, after describing the tract as "beginning at a point, approximately two feet from Earl Ballew's garage," undertakes to mark the course of the lines as follows: "thence along the original line to near a white oak tree; thence in a southeasterly direction to the original East-West line," etc. In Crawford v. Verner,
Since the plaintiff, who showed no prior possession of the premises, failed to prove title, by prescription or otherwise, the trial court did not err in granting a nonsuit.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.