28 Kan. 825 | Kan. | 1882
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action of ejectment, brought in the district court of "Wyandotte county, to recover the possession of a tract of land in Kansas City, Kansas. The case was tried by the court without a jury, and judgment rendered in favor of. the defendants in error for the possession. The defendants, as plaintiffs in error, bring the record here for reveiw. The record is very voluminous, comprising 714 pages. The facts are numerous and complicated, and the questions of law intricate and difficult. The petition in error contains 89 separate allegations in error, and in support of these allegations counsel have filed a careful and elaborate brief. Perhaps a general history of the title to the tract in controversy, and a statement of the claims of the respective parties, may help to a clearer understanding of the merits of the case, and the separate questions as they are severally considered.
In 1860, David E. James was the owner of an undivided three-eighths interest in a portion of what is known as “Armstrong’s Reserve, No. 1.” In that year he executed a title' bond for ten acres, which bond became the property of Joseph E. Snyder. Thereafter, in 1864, he executed and delivered to said Snyder a carte-blanche deed — a deed in which the name of the grantee and description of the property were omitted, and authorized Snyder to fill it up at such time as he might desire, with six acres on the bank of the Missouri river, somewhere between the state line and the mouth of .the Kansas river. In 1867, in the district court of Wyandotte county, a partition was made of said portion of Armstrong’s Reserve, No. 1, and a tract of forty-three and one-half acres allotted to James. In 1868, Snyder filled up this carte
With this general statement, we 'proceed to examine the particular questions involved, and of these there are four which are controlling. As they are decided, so goes the case.
First, is the description of the last deed from James to Snyder, the deed which purports to convey four acres, a good and sufficient description, and such as embraces the land in controversy? Second, were the proceedings in the attachment cases regular? and if not, are the defects therein such as to vitiate the attempted transfer of title to Traber? Third, did the proceedings in bankruptcy operate to transfer to Judd any title to this land? Fourth, were the tax deeds valid to pass title? Of these in their order.
I. And first as to the description. That is as follows:
“All that tract or parcel of land situated in the county of Wyandotte, and state of Kansas, and described as follows, to wit: (Var. 11° E.) Beginning at the southwest corner of a tract of land conveyed by said James to one James F. Joy, and now known as railroad land, said southwest corner being the northwest corner of a certain parcel of land now owned by said James, thence running south sixty-one degrees, fifty minutes (61° 50'), west five hundred and eighty and eight-tenths (580.8) feet; thence south 28° 10; (300 feet); thence north 61° 50', east five hundred and eighty and eight-tenths (580.8) feet; thence north 28° 10' west, (300 feet), to the place of beginning, and all to contain four (4) acres; said land being township (11) eleven, range (25) twenty-five, in the above-mentioned county and state.”
It is difficult without the aid of a diagram to make clear the full nature and force of the’objection to this description. It hinges on the initial point. That is the southwest corner of a tract of land known as railroad land. It is claimed
II. As to the attachment proceedings, there are three principal defects alleged. As the defendant was a non-resident, and served only by publication, the validity of the judgments must depend primarily on the sufficiency of these attachment proceedings. The property was sold under executions issued upon both judgments, so that if either judgment is valid the sale must be sustained, and the title conveyed is good. The objections are, that the affidavits for attachment do not state that the plaintiff’s claim is just; that the sheriff’s returns on the orders of attachment are not signed by him, and that neither return states in so many words that the sheriff left a copy of the order with any occupant of the land attached, or in any conspicuous place thereon. The code (§191) requires that the affidavit for attachment shall show — n.ot that it shall state — that the plaintiff’s claim is just. A mere statement that it is just, is doubtless sufficient; but if there be no such statement, and the facts as stated in the affidavit show that the claim is just, that is also sufficient. Now in one case the affidavit alleges that the plaintiff’s claim is “for the amount of money he was compelled to pay for and on account of a judgment rendered against the plaintiff on a bond or writing obligatory, wherein the said defendant was principal, and the said plaintiff was security, and which said plaintiff did pay for the benefit of said defendant; that the sum so paid, and for which defendant is indebted to him, amounts,” etc. Now these facts thus sworn to clearly show a just and valid claim. That is all that the statute requires. (Ludlow v. Ramsey, 11 Wall. 581.) As to the other matters, the return and appraisement were fastened to the order of attachment, and thus as one instrument returned to the clerk’s
III. The third question is by far the most difficult and embarrassing. If we are controlled by the face of the record, clearly the ruling of the district court was right. The assignee in bankruptcy takes only the property of the bankrupt which was his at the time of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. The record shows a deed, executed in 1864, of the six-acre tract; this was before the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings. The deed to the four-acre tract was not executed until April, 1869, and after the discharge in bankruptcy; so on the face of the record, this four-acre tract never belonged to the estate in bankruptcy. Counsel for plaintiffs in error contend that as the assignee scheduled this four-acre tract, as it was included in his petition for an order of sale, and also in the order of sale made by the bankrupt
Further, although Norman instituted proceedings which resulted in the setting aside of the bankrupt’s discharge, and in the sale of the real estate as the property of the bankrupt, yet long before the determination of those proceedings, Norman had sold his claim against the bankrupt’s estate, and had no further interest in the result of those proceedings. Whatever was done in the bankrupt court after his sale of the claim, and which he had never in terms asked, in no manner wrought any estoppel upon him. But finally, it is claimed by counsel that equitably and in fact this four-acre tract belonged to the bankrupt’s estate, and therefore that the purchaser under the bankrupt sale acquired a good title. A little further statement of facts is necessary to present clearly the basis of this claim. As heretofore stated, Snyder in 1860 became the owner of a title bond of ten acres. This bond stood in the name of Henry R. Seeger, his brother-in-law., so placed to keep the property out of the reach of Snyder’s creditors. In 1864 Snyder received the ccirte-blcmche deed, with authority to fill it up with a description of six acres on the banks of the Missouri river. This six acres, as testified to by Dr. Wood, was to be in fulfillment of the ten-acre title bond, change in location of the land being perhaps the basis
Second: As to the property, which is ápparently after-acquired property, the burden is on the assignee' and those claiming under him to show that it in fact and equitably belonged to the bankrupt at the time of filing his petition. (Mays v. National Bank, 64 Pa. St. 74.) No presumption arises from the fact that the assignee claimed a.nd scheduled it, but the burden is on him to overthrow the evidence of the record.
Third: When the immediate parties to a transaction are dead, courts will be slow to disturb titles founded upon writings they have made and conveyances they have executed, upon the testimony of a mere outsider, for it is always a matter of doubt whether such outsider. knows fully all the conditions and the - circumstances of the dealings between the respective parties. They may have withheld a part of the facts from him; considerations may have existed, personal to the parties, of which they gave no information, and of which he may have been all the while entirely ignorant.
Fourth: While the carte-blanche deed.may have been in the first instance, and when delivered by James to Snyder, of no validity as a deed, and while the act of Snyder in filling out the description and name of the grantee may also have been impotent to perfect the instrument as a conveyance of title to
Fifth: The two deeds from James to Snyder are different, and differently conditioned. The deed of 1864 is a conveyance direct and absolute of the six acres, without limitations or conditions, and without covenants of warranty. The deed of 1869 is a conveyance of the four acres with warranty, but subject to the payment of a mortgage of $50 per acre, given to Silas Armstrong by James, and also subject to the payment of $125 due C. F. Welland, and also to unpaid taxes., This also tends to show a new dealing, with new considerations between the parties.
Sixth: By the bankruptcy proceedings, the title' bond passed to the assignee, and Snyder had no right to. locate it; nevertheless, when he did in fact act, the assignee might accept and ratify his actions. By scheduling the six acres, he did in effect accept and ratify it. It may be said that by scheduling the four acres he also accepted and ratified Snyder’s
Seventh: Not only did the assignee in bankruptcy schedule and sell the six acres — the purchaser from him also asserted his rights thereto, conveyed the whole land to Bartlett and Cobb, who, on August 15, 1872, sold that portion within the limits of the Joy conveyance to the railroad company for $850. Not only did they thus assert a right to the six-acre tract and receive the benefit which flowed from ownership, but they also practically abandoned all claim to the land in controversy, and conceded that they had no title to it. They sought to obtain tax titles on the land in controversy, and out of this effort resulted their subsequent quitclaim to McAlpine. They purchased at the tax sale with their own money, but in the name of a friend, and caused ' subsequent taxes to be paid upon the same certificate. By a mistake of McAlpine, then the county treasurer, the payment of these subsequent taxes was not credited to them on the sale book, and so when Traber redeemed the land he obtained the certificate of redemption without the payment of the last year’s taxes. When they came for their redemption-money, they_ consequently found in the treasury only a part of the amount due them. After some negotiations, McAlpine agreed to pay the balance due, providing they would execute a quitclaim to him. Thus McAlpine acquired his interest. In other words, he in fact paid nothing for the land, but obtained a quitclaim by making good the loss occasioned by his
IV. The remaining question is of little difficulty. The defendants offered in evidence two tax deeds. The description in one deed is as follows: “Five acres out of the following described tract, viz.,” (here deed described thirty-eight acres by metes and bounds, being the entire James tract,) “ five acres; said land assessed in name of and as belonging to Jos. E. Snyder, excepting two acres off the easterly end, said land fronting on the Missouri river, redeemed February 8, 1873, by H. & St. J. R. R. Co.” This deed was based on the taxes of 1868. .The assessment roll describes only the thirty-eight-acre tract belonging to James, and describes it by metes and bounds. The notice of sale follows the assessment roll. The sale certificate simply says five acres out of the thirty-eight-acre tract, without giving by ownership or otherwise any further description. The deed as above copied, attempts to perfect the description by reciting that the land was assessed in the name of and as belonging to Jos. E. Snyder. But there was no land assessed in the name of Snyder, and at the time of the making of the tax roll, the six-acre conveyance had not been filled out and recorded; so that there was in fact at that time not the slightest pretense of any location of Snyder’s interest in the land. Furthermore, the four-acre conveyance was not made until April, 1869. But beyond all this, it is impossible to ascertain what land was included within these five acres. Snyder’s two deeds called for six acres and four acres respectively. Neither of them
There is in this description the same question as in the four-acre conveyance to Snyder, as to what was intended by the “northwest corner,” etc. I-f the initial point in that conveyance-was technically and correctly the southwest corner of' the railroad land, then the northwest corner was on the river; and that this is the corner intended in this tax deed, is strengthened by the recital of a redemption by the railroad company of two acres on the river front. But again, conceding that the description in the deed is sufficient to cover the land in controversy, so that the deed on its face is good, still the title was challenged within a few months after the record of the deed, and defects were shown in the prior proceedings. The sale book, the notice of sale, and the sale certificate, are all defective in omitting these words' from the description: “ W. 300 ft., N. 62° 10'” — which leaves a description obviously imperfect and incomplete. Hence, the title attempted to be conveyed ,by the tax deed must fail. See the following authorities, upon defects in the description of tax deeds: Orton v. Noonan, 23 Wis. 102; Winker v. Higgins, 9 Ohio, 500; Larrabee v. Hodgkins, 58 Me. 412; Griffin
This disposes of all the vital questions in the case. We see nothing in the minor matters requiring comment. For the reasons indicated while discussing the regularity,of the attachment proceedings, the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs upon the record as it stands, was improper. Nevertheless, as the ca!se seems to have been fully tried, and all available testimony introduced, it would seem unnecessary and wrong to simply reverse the judgment and remand the case for a new trial; providing, of course, that the facts as they existed will permit an amendment of the sheriff’s returns upon the attachment orders. It is perhaps a novel way of disposing of the case, but we think substantial justice requires the order which will be made, which is that the case be remanded to the district court with the instructions that if within such reasonable time as the district court or judge shall prescribe, the sheriff’s returns on the attachment orders shall be amended in conformity to the views expressed by this'court in this opinion, the judgment shall be affirmed. On the other hand, if such amendment cannot be obtained, the judgment will be reversed, and the case remanded for a new trial.