Ensminger v. Powers

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: BLATCHFORD
• Citation: Ensminger v. Powers, 108 U.S. 292, 2 S.Ct. 643, 27 L.Ed. 732 (1883)
• Decision Date: 23 April 1883
• Parties: ENSMINGER v. POWERS and another

108 U.S. 292

2 S.Ct. 643

27 L.Ed. 732

ENSMINGER v. POWERS and another.

April 23, 1883.

Wm. B. Gilbert and Nathl. Wilson, for appellant.

Wm. M. Randolph, for appellee.

BLATCHFORD, J.

In May, 1867, a bill in equity was filed by the board of mayor and aldermen of the city of Memphis and Bridget Powers against Marmaduke L. Ensminger and J. J. Sears, in the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Tennessee. The bill was sworn to by John C. Powers as agent for Bridget Powers. The substantial allegations of the bill were that the city then owned in fee 75 acres of land in Memphis, known as the navy-yard, which land, after having been dedicated by its owners, in 1844, to the government of the United States, in fee, for naval purposes, was ceded to said city by the government, in fee; that the city, in February, 1866, leased lot 10, part of said land, to said Bridget Powers, for 20 years, and she took possession of it; that Ensminger, and Sears as his agent, were setting up a claim to said lot, as having been purchased by Ensminger at a sale of it by the United States direct-tax commissioners in June, 1864, and had procured said commissioners to issue a writ of possession on April 30, 1867, to put Ensminger in possession of said lot; that the tax sale was void because (1) the act of congress under which the sale was made was unconstitutional; (2) the assessment was excessive and unauthorized; (3) the enforcement of the act was premature in time; (4) the act was not followed as to advertising the sale in a newspaper, or as to the length of time of the advertisment; (5) the sale was made on a day subsequent to that for which it was advertised. The bill prayed for a decree declaring the sale void, and for an injunction restraining the issuing or execution of any writ dispossessing the plaintiffs. A temporary injunction was issued.

Ensminger answered, setting up his tax title, as evidenced by a certificate of sale, alleging the validity of the sale and denying the allegations of the bill. The cause was heard on pleadings and proofs, and on the twenty-seventh of December, 1873, the court entered a decree that the injunction be dissolved; that lot 10 was duly sold to Ensminger, and the acquired thereby a title to it in fee-simple; that he should have a writ to the marshal to put him in possession; that there be a reference to a master to take an account of the damages to Ensminger from the injunction, for which purpose only the bill should be retained; and that the plaintiffs pay the costs of the suit. The city and Bridget Powers appealed to this court. John C. Powers signed the appeal bond for costs as surety. There was no supersedeas bond. On the thirteenth of December, 1875, the cause came on for hearing in this court, and, it appearing that the appellants had failed to file and docket the cause in this court in conformity with its rules, the appeal was docketed and dismissed by this court with costs, execution was awarded against the plaintiffs for the costs of the defendants in this court, and the cause was remanded to the circuit court for execution and further proceedings. The mandate of this court was filed in the circuit court, and on the nineteenth of June, 1876, that court made a decree that the reference as to the damages from the injunction proceed, and that the referee also report the damages to Ensminger from the loss of rents and profits of the land; and under its order an alias writ of possession was issued by it, on July 8, 1876, to the marshal to put Ensminger in possession of lot 10.

On the ninth of September, 1876, the said John C. Powers, describing himself as the husband of the said Bridget Powers, and the said Bridget Powers filed a bill in equity against the said Ensminger and the said Sears and the said city in the said circuit court. The bill prays for a decree that the plaintiffs, or the plaintiff Bridget, have a right to the leased premises for the term of the lease; that the sale to Ensminger be declared void; that the said decrees of December, 1873, and June, 1876, be reviewed and set aside; and that Ensminger and Sears be enjoined from collecting rent from the plaintiffs, or either of them, for said lot, and from interfering with their possession of it. Ensminger and Sears having demurred to the bill, the court gave leave to the plaintiffs to file said bill as a bill of review, and then the demurrer was heard and overruled, with leave to the defendants to embody in their answer the matters of the demurrer, and a temporary injunction was granted according to the prayer of the bill, and the bill was dismissed as to the city, and the other defendants were allowed to answer the bill. They answered, there was a replication, the case was heard on pleadings and proofs, and in December, 1878, the court rendered a decree adjudging that the said decrees of December, 1873, and June, 1876, in the first suit be reversed, vacated, set aside, and canceled, and the plaintiffs, as against the defendants, be restored to all they had lost under and by virtue of said decrees and the process which had been issued thereunder that the plaintiff Bridget has a good title as against the defendants for the term of her lease from the city to said lot 10, subject only to said lease; that Ensminger be perpetually enjoined from setting up any title to said lot under said tax-sale certificate; that the said temporary injunction be made perpetual; that a writ issue to put the plaintiffs in possession of said lot; and that the plaintiffs recover from the defendants the costs of both of the suits, and have execution therefor. Sears having died after the cause was submitted, the suit was ordered to be abated as to him, and Ensminger took an appeal to this court from said decree.

The bill in this suit sets forth that the land for the navy-yard, after having been dedicated by its original proprietors, in 1828, for a landing for public purposes of navigation or trade forever, was conveyed to the government by the city of Memphis, in 1844, for a navy-yard, without lawful authority, because it had been dedicated to public purposes by the original proprietors, and the city had accepted the dedication; that in 1854, by an act of congress, the government ceded the land to the city, for the use and benefit of the city, and after that the rights of the public remained the same as before the conveyance to the government; that the city leased lot 10 to the plaintiff Bridget for the term from February 28, 1866, to December 31, 1886, for a yearly rent of $127.19, payable half-yearly; that the lot was vacant and she agreed with the city to put buildings on it, with the right to her to remove them as her own property at the end of the lease; that Ensminger and Sears had compelled John C. Powers to take a lease of the lot from Ensminger in order to enable the plaintiffs to avoid being turned out of possession, and also, as a condition of remaining, to give his five notes for $25 each as rent for five months from July 19, 1876, one of which notes he had paid; that the plaintiff Bridget had put buildings on the lot, which were now on it, at a cost to her of $9,000 or $10,000; that after the plaintiffs had constructed much the larger part of the buildings they learned of the claim of Ensminger, and the plaintiff John C. applied to the city attorney to protect the plaintiffs, and he filed the bill in the first suit, not making John C. a party; that Ensminger answered, setting up his tax title; that no cross-bill was filed, nor was the answer made a cross-bill, nor was any affirmative relief prayed in the answer; that some proof was taken and the cause was treated as at issue, though no replication was filed; that the decree entered was not entered on a hearing of the case by the judge who held the court, although the plaintiffs in the suit asked for a hearing, but the judge allowed the counsel for the defendants to enter the decree at his peril, subject to the right of the plaintiffs to bring a bill of review; that the plaintiffs excepted to such ruling and the judge signed a bill of exceptions; that the appeal to this court was dismissed because the city refused to pay the necessary money for filing the transcript of the record which had been made, and docketing the appeal; that the marshal was proceeding to execute the alias writ of possession when the plaintiff John C. accepted said lease and gave said notes, and the plaintiffs remain in possession; and that the said decree and proceedings did not bind either of the plaintiffs, because Bridget was a married woman and her husband was not a party. The bill alleges that the former decrees, so far as they undertook to decree the validity of the title of Ensminger to the premises, or to award a writ of possession to him, or to do anything more than dismiss the bill of the plaintiffs, departed from the established practice of the court, and were void or erroneous; and that the decree was erroneous, if not void, because it was not the deliberate judgment of the court upon the facts in the record, and because the cause was not at issue or ready for hearing. The bill then sets forth various reasons why the purchase and title of Ensminger were invalid. Among other things the bill says:

'These plaintiffs further state and show that in the year 1861, and from thence up to the date of the lease aforesaid, the said premises were not and had not been leased by the city of Memphis to any one, or, if any such lease had been made, the same had been abandoned and forfeited, and was not for any part or period of the same time in force or subsisting as a valid and effectual contract. The plaintiffs further state and show that by a special act of the general assembly of the state of Tennessee, in force in the year 1861, the said premises were not taxable by the state of Tennessee, or the United States of America, the same not being under a lease from the city, and, for that...