Phelps v. Harris

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Citation25 L.Ed. 855,101 U.S. 370
PartiesPHELPS v. HARRIS
Decision Date01 October 1879

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. G. Gordon Adom, for the plaintiffs in error.

Mr. William L. Nugent, contra.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an action of ejectment for certain lands in Sharkie County, Mississippi, brought by Alonzo J. Phelps and Mary B. Phelps, his wife, the plaintiffs in error, against the defendants in error, of whom George C. Harris and Helen S. Harris, his wife, were admitted to defend as landlords, the other defendants being their tenants in possession of the property in dispute. The principal question in the case is, whether Henry W. Vick, father of the plaintiff, Mary B. Phelps, and trustee under a deed made by his wife, Sarah, in 1850, and also trustee under the will of his brother, Grey Jenkins Vick, made in 1849, had authority under those instruments to make partition of the lands given and devised therein to, and for the use of, his children. If he had such authority, and execised it in a proper manner, the plaintiffs have no title, and the judgment must be affirmed. If he had not such authority, or did not exercise it effectually, the plaintiffs are entitled to recover either all the land in controversy or an undivided part thereof, and the judgment must be reversed. The facts of the case are set out in a special finding of the court below.

By the deed of Sarah Vick, referred to (in which her husband joined), she conveyed certain lands of which she was seised, to a trustee, to be held upon trsut for her own separate use for life, with remainder to her children in fee; subject to certain powers of sale and exchange, and with the following proviso:——

'Provided further, that said trustee is to permit the said Henry W. Vick, as agent for said trustee, and as agent and trustee for said Sarah Vick, during her life, and as agent and trustee for her children after her death, to superintend, possess, manage, and control said property for the benefit of all concerned. Said Henry W. Vick is to have power to sell and exchange said property after the death of said Sarah Vick, and to apply the proceeds to the payment of the debt due to the trustees of the Bank of the United States; if such debt is paid, the proceeds of the sale to be reinvested, and be subject to the trusts of this deed.'

The deed closes with this paragraph:——

'My intention is that said Henry W. Vick shall be regarded, for the purposes of this deed, not merely as an agent, but also a co-trustee, and I desire he may be required to give no security for the performance of his duties; and the said Jonathan Pearce [the trustee] is not, in any manner, to be responsible for the acts and conduct of said Henry W. Vick.'

Sarah Vick died in 1850, leaving four children by her said husband; viz., Mary B. Vick (now said Mary B. Phelps), Henry G. Vick (under whom the defendants claim), Ann P. Vick, and George R. C. Vick, all of whom were then under age and unmarried.

By the will of Grey Jenkins Vick, referred to, the said Grey devised certain lands and other property to the grandchildren of his father and mother, among whom were the said children of Henry W. and Sarah Vick, and constituted the said Henry W. Vick trustee for his said children, giving him full power to dispose of all or any portion of said property which might fall to said children, and invest the proceeds in such manner as he might think proper for their benefit. After the said Grey's death, the said Henry W., as trustee of his said children, became seised in severalty by partition with the other devisees, of the proportion of lands devised to his said children, upon the trusts of the will.

In December, 1856, Henry G. Vick, the eldest of said four children of Henry W. and Sarah Vick, became of age, and soon after demanded from his father an account of his trust, and that his portion of the property held under said deed and will should be set off to him in severalty, and threatened to file a bill in equity for that purpose. They finally agreed to leave the matter to their attorneys, who decided that Henry G. Vick, having become of age, had the right to demand a division of the property, and to have his share set off to him; and the said attorneys signed a written instrument proposing the mode in which such division should be made, to wit, through the intervention of disinterested persons to be chosen by the parties. This plan was adopted; and Henry W. Vick and his son entered into a written agreement to that effect, designating the persons for making the partition, and binding themselves to stand to and abide by their decision. The arbitrators made an award by which the lands in controversy in this suit were allotted to said Henry G. Vick; an indenture was made between him and his father to carry the partition into effect; and he remained in possession of the lands set off to him until his death in May, 1859. It is this partition which is called in question by the plaintiffs.

Henry G. Vick died without issue, having first made a will by which he devised the lands in controversy, which were set off to him as aforesaid, to Helen S. Johnston, now said Helen S. Harris, who, after his death, went into possession thereof, and has ever since continued in possession.

The contention of the plaintiffs is, that Henry W. Vick had no authority, either under his wife's deed, or under the will of Grey Jenkins Vick, to make partition of the lands, that the partition made with Henry G. Vick was void, that he acquired no separate estate thereby, and had no power to devise the lands specifically, and that the plaintiff, Mary B. Phelps, as sole surviving child of Henry W. and Sarah Vick (the others having died without issue), is entitled to recover the property.

In pursuit of the supposed rights of Mary B. Phelps, the plaintiffs, in February, 1871, exhibited a bill in the Chancery Court of Washington County, Mississippi (in which the lands in controversy were then situated), against the defendants, George C. Harris and Helen his wife, to remove the cloud from the supposed title of said Mary, raised by said partition and the will of Henry G. Vick. The defendants relied on the validity of said partition and will, and the question was fully contested. In November, 1873, a decree was made dismissing the bill. An appeal was taken, and the Supreme Court affirmed the decree. The plaintiffs then brought this action of ejectment; and one of the questions in the cause is, whether the decree in the chancery suit did not render the controversy res judicata. The plaintiffs contended that it did not, and that the only effect of the decree was, to decide that a bill to remove the cloud from the title would not lie, leaving the parties to all their legal rights in an action at law.

On this question the court below finds and concludes as follows:——

'And the court here now finds as a fact, from an inspection of the record in the said chancery cause, that the question as to the validity of the partition of the lands aforesaid, made by the said Henry W. Vick and the said Henry G. Vick under the deed of the said Sarah Vick and the will of said Grey J. Vick, and the power of said Henry W. Vick to make such partition, as well as the validity of the devise made by the said Henry W. Vick to the said Helen S. Harris, was directly raised by the bill in said cause and litigated between the parties; and that the said Supreme Court adjudged and decided that the said partition and devise were both valid and effectual, and that the said Henry W. Vick had full power and authority to make the said partition with the said Henry G. Vick. Which decision so made by said court was done to determine the juris diction of the court in said cause, and that said Supreme Court decided that the said Chancery Court had no jurisdiction thereof, and that if the said complainants therein have any right to the lands described therein, and which are the same for which this action of ejectment is brought, it is a legal title which must be enforced in an action at law.'

The decree of the Chancery Court of Washington County, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court, was in the following words: 'The court being of opinion that the complainants are not entitled to the relief prayed for in their bill, or to any relief in the premises from this court, it is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the said complainants' bill of complaint be and the same is dismissed, and that complainants pay the costs, &c.'

The bill was filed under a statute of Mississippi, which declared as follows: 'When any person, not the rightful owner of any real estate in this State shall have any deed or other evidence of title thereto, or which may cause doubt or suspicion in the title of the real owner, such real owner may file a bill in the Chancery Court of the county in which the real estate is situated, to have such deed or other evidence of title cancelled, and such cloud, doubt, or suspicion removed from said title, whether such real owner be in possession, or be threatened to be disturbed in his possession or not, &c.' Rev. Stat. Miss., 1871, sect. 975, p. 191.

It is probable that the only effect of this statute was to enable owners of land not in possession to file a bill for the removal of clouds upon their title; since the ordinary jurisdiction of a court of chancery is sufficient to enable owners in possession to file such a bill. The questions, what constitutes such a cloud upon the title, and what character of title the complainant himself must have, in order to authorize a court of equity to assume jurisdiction of the case, are to be decided upon principles which have long been established in those courts. Prominent amongst these are, first, that the title or right of the complainant must be clear; and,...

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