Clements v Texas Company

• Date: 01 January 1925
• Docket Number: Case No. 73
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas (Galveston).

Case No. 73

Clements (plaintiff)

and

Texas Company (defendant).

State Succession — Effects of, in respect of Private Rights — Validity of Judgments — Whether Enforceable by new Sovereign — Separation of Texas from Mexico.

The Facts.—In an action of trespass to try title, it was shown that title to land had passed originally by sale under a judgment rendered in a court of competent jurisdiction in a province of Mexico. The province later became a part of the State of Texas, which, through revolution, became independent of Mexico in 1836. The land in question had passed to one of the parties litigant by mesne conveyances, and the question arose as to the effect of the change of government upon the judgment and its enforceability by the new sovereign.

Held: (a) A valid judgment upon title to land rendered in a province of Mexico by a court of competent jurisdiction under the Mexican Government was not affected as a valid obligation by a revolution and the subsequent setting up of the new Republic of Texas in the Mexican province where it was rendered. “For in the event of conquest or revolution ‘the people...