48 La. Ann. 1299 | La. | 1896
Lead Opinion
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff, the police jury of Lafourche, sought by this suit to enjoin the police jury of Terrebonne from collecting licenses of oyster fishermen pursuing their vocation within the limits of Lafourche, because east of a boundary claimed to be established as that of the parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne by the judgment of this court, and the petition also claimed judgment for the amount of such licenses alleged to have been collected by the parish of Terrebonne. There was the exception of prematurity, which being overruled the defendant answered, insisting that the boundary of Lafourche and Terrebonne was not that relied on by plaintiff, controverting the interpretation of plaintiff of the judgment of this
The defendant, the parish of Terrebonne, strenuously insists that the territory within which Lafourche asserts jurisdiction is within the limits of Terrebonne. These parishes have had a previous contention on this subject reported in 34 An. 1230, Parish of Lafourche vs. Parish of Terrebonne. Created in 1822, the lines of Terrebonne were attempted to be adjusted in 1850 by the Act No. 97 of that year. The decision in 34 An. seems to have been ineffective for ending contention, and after fifteen 3 ears since its rendition the two parishes now confront each other on this boundary question, revived owing to their conflicting pretensions to collect the oyster bed revenues under the legislation of 1892. The contention is now confined to the lower portion of the eastern boundary of Terrebonne, Which is thus defined in the acts: from the middle of the line drawn from the lower boundary of Ballot’s plantation to the-lower side of Lacoupe of Bayou Bceuf, thence on a line parallel with the Lafourche to within eighty arpents of the Bayou Terrebonne, thence winding around the settlement of the bayou to a distance of forty arpents from Bayou Lafourche, to be continued until a distance of eighty arpents from the Lafourche can be effected without encountering the limits of the lands on the Terrebonne; thence still at a distance of eighty arpents from the Lafourche, on a line parallel with that bayou to the Bayou Blue Water, the right bank of which to the sea shall be the eastern boundary. In the previous litigation one contention was as to the winding line, and the court determined it continued until a point eighty arpents from the Lafourche can be reached without encountering the lands on the Terrebonne. 84 An. 1232, 1234. The decision, it is claimed, is res judicata of the present controversy as to the bayou, with which the eightyarpent line connects. The discussion in that case, in part directed to the extent of the winding line, when the opinion
The reasoning forms no part of the decree. Pepper vs. Dunlap, 5 An. 200; Keane vs. Fisher, 10 An. 261. It may be claimed that the reasoning and the decree coincide. The decree is that Bayou.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that the judgment •of the lower court be avoided and reversed, and it is now adjudged and decreed that from the point where the line winding round the settlements on Bayou Terrebonne reaches a distance of eighty arpents from the Bayou Lafourche without encountering the limits of the land on the Terrebonne, fixed in the decree of this court in the suit of these parties, rendered on the tenth day of Apiil, 1882, that the eastern boundary of the parish of Terrebonne is hereby decreed to be a line parallel with the Bayou Lafourche, still, at a distance of eighty arpents from it to the Bayou Blue Water, following its right bank to the sea, and that the oyster beds west of that line be decreed to be part of said pnrish of Terrebonne, and that the decree of the lower court, in respect to the money demand of the parish of Lafourche, be affirmed, the plaintiff, appellee, to pay costs.
Rehearing
On Application for Rehearing.
In view of the importance of this case and the aid to a correct decision it is urged the court will derive from additional testimony and reargument, it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the judgment of the lower court be avoided and reversed; that the former judgment of this court be set aside, and it is further ordered and decreed that this case be and it is hereby remanded to the lower court for another trial.