Haeussler v. Missouri Iron Co.

• Decision Date: 02 March 1892
• Citation: 110 Mo. 188,19 S.W. 75
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: HAEUSSLER v. MISSOURI IRON CO. et al.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>

19 S.W. 75

110 Mo. 188

HAEUSSLER v. MISSOURI IRON CO. et al.¹

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

March 2, 1892.

CONTRACT — VALIDITY — PUBLIC POLICY — PARTITION.

1. An agreement between co-tenants of land that neither they nor their heirs or assigns shall ever institute suit for the partition of the property is void as being an unreasonable restraint on the enjoyment of property.

2. Possession of land by a tenant under a perpetual mining lease is no objection to a partition suit between the co-owners, subject to the rights of the tenant.

Appeal from circuit court, Dent county; C. C. BLAND, Judge.

Action by H. A. Haeussler against the Missouri Iron Company and others for partition. Judgment for defendants. Plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Broadhead & Hezel, J. Morchard, and E. A. Seay, for appellant. L. B. Woodside, for respondents.

THOMAS, J.

This is a proceeding for the partition of the S. W. ¼ and the N. W. ¼ of the S. W. ¼ and the N. ½ of the S. E. ¼ of section 24, township 34, range 6 W., situated in Dent county, containing 280 acres. This record discloses the following facts: On the 4th day of June, 1870, C. C. Simmons and W. P. Billings, being seised of said lands in fee, by separate conveyances conveyed two undivided fourths thereof in fee to Alexander L. Crawford and William L. Scott, each of which conveyances contained this stipulation: "And it is also further mutually covenanted and agreed by and between the parties to this conveyance that neither they nor their heirs or assigns, nor any or either of them, shall or will ever institute or commence, or cause to be instituted or commenced, any proceedings, in partition or otherwise, in law or equity, to obtain or procure a partition, allotment, or division, or sale of so much or of such parts or portion of said lands as have been leased for mining purposes to said parties of the second part by deed of lease bearing even date herewith, and made and executed by said Walter P. Billings and Cyrenius C. Simmons, and duly recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds of said Dent county, without the written consent of all the parties interested in said property at the time of the commencement of such proceedings, and made a part of the record thereof." The "deed of lease" mentioned in the foregoing stipulation was an indenture which witnessed that the said Simmons and Billings, as parties of the first part, granted, bargained, sold, and conveyed perpetually and forever to said Crawford and Scott, as parties of the second part, their heirs, assigns, and legal representatives, "the sole and exclusive right and privilege to enter upon and into said lands for the purpose of searching for, digging, mining, quarrying, and taking away all the iron ore which may be upon or in said lands; and also for the purpose of smelting and manufacturing of iron on said lands, to any extent that the parties of the second part, their heirs, assigns, and legal representatives, may deem advisable," with the proviso that "such parts or portions of said pieces or parcels of land as do not contain iron ore, and such as shall not be needed or used by said parties of the second part for mining, storing waste material, railroad tracks and switches, manufacturing purposes, or for the erection of buildings, machinery, and fixtures required or needful for the use of said parties of the second part in carrying on their business aforesaid, shall be and remain in the joint possession, and for the mutual use, benefit, and enjoyment, of all the aforesaid parties hereto, according to their respective interests and shares therein." It was provided by this deed of lease that said Crawford and Scott, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, should pay to said Simmons and Billings, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, the sum of 12½ cents per ton gross of 2,240 pounds for the one-half of all the iron ore that should be mined, dug, or quarried and taken away, used, or sold from said lands; the payments to be made quarterly, on the 15th days of January, April, July, and October in each year. Crawford and Scott agreed to organize a corporation under the laws of Missouri for the purpose of carrying on mining operations on said lands, which was done, the name of the corporation being "Missouri Iron Company," to which said Crawford and Scott in due time conveyed the interests in said lands acquired by them by virtue of the said conveyances and deed of lease. This corporation took from these lands from 1873 to the time of the trial of this cause in October 1889, 200,000 tons of iron ore. The record shows the interests of the parties other than the Missouri Iron Company in said lands to be as follows: Plaintiff, one-fourth; defendant Cook or his representatives, one-eighth; and Walter and Maud Billings, one-sixteenth each; all subject to the terms and conditions of the conveyances and...