39 Mo. 125 | Mo. | 1866
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was a proceeding in the nature of a bill in equity to restrain Howard E. Christy, administrator of the estate of Edmund T. Christy, deceased, from selling a tract of land! situated in North St. Louis, containing about five acres, an<S also praying to have the title to the same divested out of the defendants and vested in the complainants. The compiain-
The court found that a deed was made and executed by Christy and delivered to Wright in 1833, and rendered a decree for complainants.
The doctrine of a presumed conveyance cannot be here indulged as the possession was not sufficiently ancient to invoke that principle of law. The alleged sale and conveyances were in 1833 ; Christy died in 1839, and his administrator, in pursuance of an order of the Probate Court of St. Louis county, advertised the property for sale in 1841 for the payment of debts owing by deceased, at which time this suit was instituted.
The complainants read in evidence the deposition of William Wright, who stated that he was residing in North St. Louis in the year 1833, and that he was acquainted with Maj. Thomas Wright and Edmund T. Christy, and that he was then superintendent of all the business matters of Thos. Wright, and as such was aware of all his business transactions; that he knew that Thomas Wright did, in the spring of 1833, purchase of Edmund T. Christy the five-acre lot here in controvei’sy, and that Christy executed a deed therefor to Wright; that he, as agent of Wright and acting under his direction, purchased rails for the purpose of enclosing the tract of land, and which was enclosed soon after the purchase by Wright, and was cultivated by him as a part of his farm up to the autumn of the year 1836.
The complainants then, after proving the signature of Edmund T. Christy, offered in evidence an order addressed by
The complainants next gave in evidence the deed of trust from Christy to Darby, as trustee of McDonald, dated November 5, 1832 ; and also a deed of assignment, dated October 31, 1839, by Christy to Julius D. Johnston just previous to his death, by which he purported to convey all his lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods and chattels, choses in action, of every kind and description, to said Johnston for the benefit of his creditors. Annexed to this deed was a schedule enumerating all the lands which he was possessed and seized of, together with his personal property, but the five acres now in dispute was not included.
The defendants then gave in evidence a deed from Ed. T. Christy to Thomas Wright, dated April 10, 1833, by which Christy conveyed to Wright fifty acres of land, adjoining the five-acre tract, for the consideration of two thousand dollars; also the deed of release executed by John E. Darby to Ed. T. Christy, dated October 8, 1836, and the deed of William Christy to Edmund T. Christy, conveying certain premises in which this land is included, dated December 27,1831. And this was all the evidence in the case.
As to the admissibility of the order or letter of Christy to Darby authorizing him to make and execute a deed to Wright’s heirs, it may be stated that it was immaterial to the case ; but it is not perceived how or in what manner it could have worked any injury to the defendants. Darby testifies that he refused to make a deed, when applied to for that
There is nothing to warrant or to justify the presumption attempted to be raised by the counsel for the defendants that the money paid by Wright to Darby for the use of McDonald was in part consideration for the fifty-acre tract. All the evidence goes to show that the purchase of the two tracts were separate and distinct transactions. Darby says that McDonald and Christy both told him that Wright had agreed to take the property (by which he understood the five-acre tract) and pay the money, in order that the debt might be paid and the deed of trust discharged. Wright told him the same thing, and paid the money according to the understanding. Superadded to this, William Wright testifies that he was the agent of his brother Thomas, who was an officer in the United States army, and was conversant with all his business matters and superintended them; that Christy made, executed and delivered the deed to Thomas in the spring of 1833, and that he immediately enclosed the land, and thereafter occupied and cultivated it. This evidence is uncontradicted, and we see nothing to rebut or destroy its force. We therefore conclude that the Land Court committed no error in finding that a deed was executed and delivered to Wright from Christy in 1833, and in making the injunction perpetual.
The decree and judgment must be affirmed.