Beard v. Burts

• Citation: 95 U.S. 434,24 L.Ed. 485
• Parties: BEARD v. BURTS
• Decision Date: 01 October 1877
• Court: United States Supreme Court

95 U.S. 434

24 L.Ed. 485

BEARD v. BURTS.

October Term, 1877

ERROR to the Supreme Court of the State of Tennessee.

Mr. A. G. Riddle for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Robert G. Ingersoll, contra.

MR. JUSTICE STRONG delivered the opinion of the court.

This was a bill of review, to which a demurrer was interposed by the defendant in the Chancery Court where it was filed; and, after hearing, the bill was dismissed. The decree of the Chancellor was then reversed by the Supreme Court of the State, the demurrer was disallowed, and, without any permission given to the defendant to answer, the decree in the orginal suit, which the bill sought to have reviewed, was vacated and annulled. The court then proceeded to decree against the defendant Beard on the original cause of action, and remanded the case to the Chancery Court for an account. An account was accordingly ordered in that court, and a final decree was entered against the defendant, and subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court. It is to this action that the present writ of error has been sued out.

We have not before us the record of the original suit, which was instituted in 1865, and in which a final decree against the plaintiff was made Nov. 27, 1868. All we can know of it is what we learn from the bill of review. From that it appears to have been a bill for an injunction against trespass and cutting wood upon the plaintiff's land, and for an account of what had already been cut. The defendant answered, admitting that he had cut one hundred and fifty-five and one-third cords of wood, and setting up in justification 'that he cut it as an authorized agent of the government of the United States, and for military purposes, and under the direction and authority of the military authorities.' In further answer, he averred 'that he was protected by the order of the Secretary of War and the commanding general of Tennessee.'

In still further answer, he pleaded that he had a right to cut wood on the land, as appeared by an order or authority from one D. V. Brown, wood agent of the United States military railroads, and directed to him, authorizing him to cut wood on said land, as follows:——

'KNOXVILLE, TENN., May 9, 1865.

'James S. Beard is hereby authorized to cut wood for the U. S. M. R. on the lands of Joseph Burts, John Lyle, Dillard Love, by order of the superintendent.

'D. V. BROWN, Wood Agent.'

To this answer no replication appears to have been filed; but evidence was submitted, and, after hearing, the Chancellor found that Beard's plea of justification under the laws of the United States, and by military authority exercised thereunder, was sustained, and that he had acted in pursuance to such military authority. The plaintiff's bill was, therefore, dismissed, and no appeal was perfected.

So much is set forth in the bill of review, in which it is also alleged that there was error in the original decree. That assigned, and the only one that requires notice, is that the pretended authority from D. V. Brown, wood agent, was void, and gave the defendant no authority to cut the wood, as there was no order from the commanding general of the department or Secretary of War authorizing the same, nor any act of Congress authorizing the trespass at the time and place when and where committed.

Such was the case as presented to the Chancellor by the demurrer to the bill, and such was the case submitted to the Supreme Court on the appeal taken from the Chancellor's decree dismissing it.

It is obvious the only important inquiry respects the validity of the authority under which the defendant had acted. It claimed to be a privilege or immunity under the laws of the United States. It was found to be authentic by the Chancellor in his original decree, and its authenticity is not denied in the bill of review. That, therefore, is not open to debate. To sustain a bill of review, there must be errors of law apparent on the face of the decree, or some new matters of fact material in themselves, and discovered after the rendition of the decree. This is the general rule in equity, and it is the rule in Tennessee, declared to be such in the present case. The facts are not open for a re-trial, unless the bill asserts that new evidence has been discovered, not obtainable before the first trial by the exercise of reasonable diligence. The conclusions of fact of the court or Chancellor are conclusive. In view of what the Chancellor found in the original case, it would seem, therefore, his conclusion, that the defendant in cutting the wood was acting under authority from the military authorities, could not be reviewed and set aside. It was a conclusion of fact deduced from evidence he had before him. But the Supreme Court, while admitting that...