Charles Gazzam, Plaintiff In Error v. Lessee of Elam Phillips and Mary His Wife, and Ashbey Etheridge

• Decision Date: 01 December 1857
• Citation: 15 L.Ed. 958,61 U.S. 372,20 How. 372
• Parties: CHARLES W. GAZZAM, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. LESSEE OF ELAM PHILLIPS AND MARY HIS WIFE, AND ASHBEY W. ETHERIDGE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

61 U.S. 372

20 How. 372

15 L.Ed. 958

CHARLES W. GAZZAM, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. LESSEE OF ELAM PHILLIPS AND MARY HIS WIFE, AND ASHBEY W. ETHERIDGE.

December Term, 1857

THIS case was brought up, by writ of error, from the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama.

The parties claimed under the same titles which were before this court in the case of Brown v. Clements, reported in 3 How., 650. A diagram is there given, explanatory of the mode in which the fractional section was divided between Stone and Etheridge.

The present suit was an ejectment brought in 1850, by Phillips and Etheridge, who claimed under Etheridge's title against Gazzam, who claimed under that of Stone.

The suit was brought in the Circuit Court of the county of Mobile, (State court,) where the verdict and judgment were for the plaintiffs, in 1855. The charge of the judge to the jury was in conformity with the opinion of this court in the case of Brown v. Clements, accompanied with the remark that such would not have been his charge, if it had not been for the decision of this court in that case.

In March, 1856, the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed this judgment, and Gazzam sued out a writ of error to bring the case to this court.

The case of Brown v. Clements was argued and decided in this court at the term which commenced in December term, 1844. In the 24th vol. of Alabama Rep., new series, p. 354, containing the decisions of the Supreme Court at January term, 1854, there is the following opinion delivered by Chief Justice Chilton:

'Doe ex dem Brown and wife v. Clements and Hunt, Chilton, C. J. This court having rendered a judgment of affirmance in this cause, it was taken by the plaintiff in error to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the judgment of this court was reversed, and the cause ordered to be remanded for further proceedings. The judgment of reversal was rendered in December, 1844, but the mandate or certificate of reversal did not reach this court until recently, when the cause was ordered to be placed upon the docket, &c., &c.

'It is the duty of the clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States to forward to this court the evidence of the reversal of the judgment, in order that the same may be disposed of in conformity to the decision of that court, & c., &c.

'That the failure of the clerks to do their duty, in not placing causes on the docket, shall work no prejudice to the parties. &c., &c.'

Upon this matter, the Reporter has received from the clerk of this court a communication, which will be found in a note.^*

The case was argued in this court by Mr. J. Little Smith for the plaintiff in error, and Mr. Sherman for the defendants.

Mr. Justice NELSON delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the State of Alabama.

The suit was brought in the court below to recover the possession of some four acres of land in the city of Mobile.

The lessors of the plaintiff claimed title to the lot in dispute as heirs of James Etheridge, and gave in evidence a patent from the United States to their ancestor, dated 30th May, 1833, 'for the southwest quarter section twenty-two, in township four south, of range one west, in the district of land subject to sale at St. Stephens, Alabama, containing ninety-two acres and sixty-seven hundredths of an acre, according to the official plat of the survey of the said lands returned to the General Land Office by the surveyor general; which said tract has been purchased by the said James Etheridge.' The above is a literal extract from the description of the parcel of land in the patent granted to Etheridge.

The defendant claimed under William D. Stone, and gave in evidence a patent to him from the United States, dated the 17th December, 1832, 'for the south subdivision of fractional section twenty-two, same township and range, containing one hundred and ten acres and fifty-one hundredths of an acre, according to the official plat of survey of the said lands returned to the General Land Office by the surveyor general; which said tract has been purchased by the said William D. Stone.' Etheridge gave notice to the register and receiver of his claim under the act of 29th May, 1830, on the 28th January, 1831, and produced his proofs. Stone gave notice of his claim to the same section, 25th March, 1831, and furnished his proofs. The claim and proofs in each case were received and filed, but no money was paid, nor certificates given, as the official plat of the survey of the township had not then been received at the office. This plat was returned and filed in March, 1832. There were private claims surveyed and laid down on the plat to this section, so that the portion open to the two pre-emption claims in question was confined to a fractional part of the section. This fractional part was divided according to the plat by a line running north and south through it, laying off in the west subdivision ninety-two and sixty-seven hundredths acres, and in the east one hundred and ten and fifty hundredths acres. Etheridge purchased the west and Stone the east subdivision.

The certificates of purchase were given to both claimants 30th April, 1832. The one to Etheridge is for the southwest quarter of section twenty-two, containing ninety-two and sixty-seven hundredths acres, the quantity in the west subdivision, at the rate of one dollar twenty-five cents per acre, amounting to $115.43; the other to Stone is for the southeast subdivision of fractional section twenty-two, containing one hundred and ten and fifty-one hundredths acres, the quantity in the east subdivision, at the rate of one dollar twenty-five cents per acre, amounting to $138.13.

The sales in each case were made in conformity with the subdivisions, as marked upon the plat of the surveyor general then on file in the office, and to which all purchasers of the public land had access, and which constituted the guide of the register and receiver in making the sales.

The lessors of plaintiff also gave evidence showing that the premises in question were within the southwest quarter section twenty-two, computing the same according to the usual measurement of quarter sections, and that a full quarter might have been laid off from the fraction, and claimed that the whole of the southwest quarter had been appropriated to their ancestor, Etheridge, under the pre-emption act of 1830, which position was assented to by the court. The court also ruled that the purchase and patent of Stone, under whom the defendant claims, must be restrained to the fraction in the west part of the southeast quarter of section twenty-two, and that it gave him no right to the land in the southwest quarter.

The effect of this ruling, when applied to the case, gave to the heirs of Etheridge one hundred and sixty acres of the fractional section, in disregard of the official survey, the purchase, and patent for only the ninety-two acres, and reduced the one hundred and ten which Stone purchased, and had a patent for, to some forty-three acres.

The court is of opinion this ruling cannot be maintained. For, conceding for the sake of the argument that the plat by the surveyor general of this section was made contrary to law, the ground upon which the decision is sought to be maintained, and that Etheridge, under the pre-emption act of 1830, was entitled to purchase the whole of the southwest quarter, and to have it...