99 Ind. 175 | Ind. | 1884
The complaint of the appellee asserts title to a tract of land described as follows: “ Commencing at the northeast corner of section twenty, township fifteen north, of range six east ; thence south, about one hundred rods, to a stone established by the county surveyor; thence west twenty-four rods; thence south four rods; thence west fifty-six rods to middle dividing line of northeast quarter of section twenty; thence north on said line to the north line of said section; thence east to the place of beginning.” This description is •a definite one and confines the claim of the appellee to the property thus specifically described. He is entitled to quiet title to the land he has described in his complaint, but not to some other tract. The issue made by his complaint was as to his title to this particular land, and he can not, as the complaint is framed, recover for any other land than that covered by the description given in his pleading.
The principal questions in the case are, whether the appellee proved title to the land described, and also proved that the .appellant was asserting without right some title to it adverse to the appellee. Second Nat’l Bank v. Corey, 94 Ind. 457.
Where there is a conflict in the evidence, this court must .act upon that which the jury and the trial court accepted as creditable and satisfactory, without weighing it to discover whether it was or was not the weightier. Arnold v. Wilt, 86 Ind. 367; Cain v. Goda, 94 Ind. 555.
In this case we must, under this well established rule, accept as true the evidence adduced by the appellee and ascertain whether it supports, his complaint.
The claim of title is founded in part on a sheriff’s deed and on a tax deed. The first of these deeds is based on a decree of foreclosure, and, as the claimant showed a judgment, sale and title in the judgment defendant, he made a case entitling him to the land described in that deed. That this deed did ■convey a title to the land described in it is clear enough; the ■difficult question is whether it covers all the land claimed. It is obvious that a sheriff’s deed can not confer title to land
The tax deed was not sufficient to convey title, because it was not shown that the person bound for the taxes had no personal property. Johnson v. Briscoe, 92 Ind. 367; Keepfer v. Force, 86 Ind. 81; Woolen v. Rockafeller, 81 Ind. 208; Smith v. Kyler, 74 Ind. 575; Ward v. Montgomery, 57 Ind. 276.
Neither of the deeds, nor both combined, vested title in the appellee to the strip of land in dispute. There was, as the evidence shows, no claim asserted by the appellant to the land ■embraced in the sheriff’s deed, and for this reason no case made against him on that deed. It appears very clearly that if the appellee has a cause of action, it must rest on some other foundation.
The appellee’s counsel place the right to the relief sought on the ground of estoppel. Our cases hold that title may be
' What facts will constitute an estoppel. sufficient to confer title is the next question encountered. It is well settled that there need not be any design to defraud in order to constitute an estoppel. It is sufficient if the conduct of the party has been knowingly such as would make it unconscionable on his part to deny what his conduct had induced another to believe and act upon in good faith and without knowledge of the facts. Anderson v. Hubble, supra.
In order to constitute an equitable estoppel, it must appear that one party has induced the other to act, and that there was knowledge on the one part and ignorance on the other. Fletcher v. Holmes, 25 Ind. 458; Lash v. Rendell, 72 Ind. 475; Robbins v. Magee, 76 Ind. 381, and auth. cited; Sims v. City of Frankfort, 79 Ind. 447; Buck v. Milford, 90 Ind. 291; Mitchell v. Fisher, 94 Ind. 108.
We proceed to an examination of the evidence to ascertain whether it .proves an estoppel under these rules, and, guided by the rule heretofore stated, we must accept that adduced on the part of the appellee.
Qn the witness stand the appellee testified that he had lived on the land before he bought it at the sheriff’s sale; that during that time he and the appellant traced the lines a half dozen times, and the latter pointed out the corners, and advised the purchase of the land; that the stone mentioned in the description in the complaint was pointed out to him by Pitcher, and identified as the corner. At the time mentioned
There was no error in permitting the parol evidence upon the subject of the boundary of the land. It was proper to prove acts done in fixing the boundaries, and when acts are competent, so, also, are declarations accompanying them. Creighton v. Hoppis, post, p. 369.
Proof of an equitable title was sufficient to sustain the cause of action stated in the complaint. Burt v. Bowles, 69 Ind. 1; Steeple, v. Downing, 60 Ind. 478; Barnes v. Union School Tp., 91 Ind. 301. If the appellant had desired a more
Judgment affirmed.