109 Tenn. 415 | Tenn. | 1902
delivered the opinion of the-Gourt.
The Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company has; appealed from the decree pronounced against it in> these consolidated cases. ..
It further appears that prior to the correction of the deed from Melton to Slatton, and on September 3, 1895, Slatton sold and conveyed by deed to Dykes & Brown about three and three
The foregoing statement embraces the finding of the court of chancery appeals in respect to the title of Slatton to the land in controversy. The title of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company is found by that court to be as follows: First, an entry, No. J,521, for 5,000 acres in the name of Violet Hendricks, dated December 1, 1836, and survey of this entry May 11, 1837; second, a grant issued on said entry March 15, 1839, to Burgess Matthews; third, the heirs of Burgess Matthews, who died intestate, conveyed their interest in said land by several deeds, in 1882, to E. O. Nathurst and E. F. Colyar; fourth, Náthurst and Col-yar, by deed, conveyed the land to the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company. The land embraced' in these various conveyances is the land included in the said grant, and is the land claimed by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company in its bill. The grant
The contention of the company, under this state o: facts, is, of course, that Slattern’s possession, not being within the boundaries of his deed as made and de
A'further defense of Slatton is that the deeds of Matthews to Rathurst and Colyar and from the latter to the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company were executed while he was in open and notorious possession of the land, claiming in his own right, and hence said deeds are champertous. Shannon’s Code, sec. 3171 et seq.
With this statement of the facts, taken from the opinion of the court of chancery appeals, we proceed to state our opinion of the law which governs its determination.
It is plain the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company has established a superior paper title to the land in controversy. It is also true that the adverse possession of Slatton has not been made out, for the reason that it was not held under an assurance or color of title purporting to convey the fee. The possession of Slatton by his son, George Slatton, was prior to the reformation of the deed from David Melton to John Slatton, and the fiction of relation can not be invoked to perfect John Slatton’s possession. The possession of John Slatton of eight or ten acres
These principles, we take it, are so well settled as to be axiomatic in the law of ejectment. Moreover, a
Moreover, under the uniform holding of this court, during the currency of the parol contract and until it is repudiated, the vendee in possession holds for himself, and not as tenant of the vendor. Redmond v. Bowles, 5 Sneed, 551; Sullivan v. Ivey, 2 Sneed, 487; Beard v. Bricker, 2 Swan, 50; James v. Patterson’s Lessee, 1 Swan, 309 (55 Am. Dec., 737); Fain v. Headerick, 4 Cold., 334. In some of our cases the vendee has been likened to a quasi tenant of the vendor, hut in those cases the parol sale had been repudiated. It appears, however, in the case now being adjudged that the sale from Melton to Slatton, so far from being repudiated, has been affirmed, Slatton always claiming the land under his purchase, and relying on the statute of limitation of seven years. He has never at any time claimed to be a tenant of Melton.
In Ellege v. Cooke, 5 Lea, 627, Judge McFarland, entered into a thorough review and discussion of the cases, and the conclusion was reached that a purchaser in possession under a parol contract is not holding the possession for his vendor, so as to make out the latter’s title, by the first section of the act of 1819, against a superior title in a third party.
We are further of opinion the court of chancery appeals was in error in holding that the deeds from Hathurst and Colyar to the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company were champertous. This holding
It results that the decree of the court of chancery appeals must be reversed, and complainant’s bill dismissed, and relief will be decreed the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company under its bill. The costs will be divided.