Hedrick v. Hughes
| Decision Date | 01 December 1872 |
| Citation | 15 Wall. 123,21 L.Ed. 52,82 U.S. 123 |
| Parties | HEDRICK v. HUGHES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
ERROR to the Circuit Court for the District of Missouri.
Messrs. Montgomery Blair and F. A. Dick, for the plaintiff in error; Mr. T. T. Gantt, contra.
Mr. Justice BRADLEY stated the case, and delivered the opinion of the court.
This was an action of ejectment brought by the plaintiff in error to recover a certain quarter section of land in Howard County, Missouri. The plaintiff claimed the land under a patent of the United States, granted to one Widdicombe, June 1st, 1868, upon a scrip certificate issued to the State of Kentucky, under the act of July 2d, 1862, donating lands to the several States for the support of agricultural colleges. The defendant, who had been in possession of the land for more than thirty years, and had erected expensive improvements on it, claimed title under a grant from the State of Missouri, made in 1832. The title of the State was derived in the following manner. By the 6th section of the act of Congress, passed March 6th, 1820,* entitled, 'An act to authorize the people of the Missouri Territory to form a constitution and State government, &c.,' it was, amongst other things, proposed for the acceptance of the convention, and if accepted, to be binding on the United States, that 'section sixteen,' in every township, and when such section had been sold, or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as might be, should be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of the township for the use of schools; also, all salt springs, not exceeding twelve in number, and six sections of land contiguous to each, for the use of the State, with other concessions stated in the act. These proposals were accepted by the convention. For the purpose of carrying out this grant as to school lands, an act was passed on the 3d of March, 1823,** by which it was enacted that in all cases in which 'section sixteen' had been sold or otherwise disposed of, it should be the duty of the register and receiver of the respective land offices in whose districts such land might be, to select the like quantity of other lands equivalent thereto, from any of the unappropriated lands of the United States in that State, as nearly contiguous to said 'section sixteen' as might be; and a descriptive entry of such selected lands should be made on the books of the register, specifying as well the township in which, as that for the use of which, the selection should be made; and the lands thus selected and located were, by the act, granted to the State, for the use of the inhabitants of the respective townships for the use of schools, instead of the sixteenth section so sold or disposed of.
The defendant insisted that section sixteen, in the township in which the lot in question was situated, had been sold by the United States prior to March 6th, 1820; that the register and receiver of the land district had selected other lands for the use of the township for school purposes under the act of 1823, and had made a descriptive entry thereof in the register's books in pursuance of the act; and that the quarter section in question (which was a part of section seventeen) was one of the tracts so selected, and thereby became the property of the State, and had been sold as such by the school commissioner of the county in 1832; and that a patent had been duly granted by the State in pursuance of such sale, under which the title of the defendant was regularly derived.
All the parts of this defence were duly proved except one. This was the selection and entry of the lot in question by the register and receiver, in lieu of 'section sixteen,' disposed of. The register's book contained no descriptive entry as directed by the act. The leaf that should have contained it (if it was made) being missing; and the original township plat (which would probably have indicated the fact) being also lost.
This hiatus in his case the defendant endeavored to supply by proof aliunde. He adduced the testimony of several witnesses to show that the lot in question had been rented out as school lands for several years prior to 1832, and that in that year it was sold, with other school lands, by Owen Rawlins, the county school commissioner, being the sale upon which the State patent was based. He then produced and offered in evidence from the county archives, kept in the clerk's office, a certain book or record, kept by Rawlins, containing a copy of his commission as school commissioner, and a history of his proceedings in selling the school lands; together with a list, in the handwriting of one Boon, of all the school lands of the county, including the lot in question; which entries were made in 1831-2, and both Rawlins and Boon were shown to have been dead many years. The defendant also produced a book purporting to contain a copy of the original township plats in the register's office (including the township in question), showing the various sections of land, and memoranda written on each section as to the disposition thereof, in which the quarter section in question had the words 'reserved for schools' written upon it. As to the origin of this book James L. McNair testified that it was made by him in 1853; that he was then deputy clerk of Howard County; that he had before that time been clerk in the office of the register whilst his father held that office; that an act of the Missouri legislature directed the county clerk to procure a copy of the township plats in the register's office; and that the witness was employed by Mr. Harding, the then clerk of the county court, and by Judge Todd, then register of the land office, to make the copy; that he made it carefully, and was satisfied that the book produced was a true copy—not, however, a literal copy of any one book then in the register's office, in all particulars. As to entries, the plat-book in the register's office would contain on any particular subdivision of land the letters 'A.,' 'P.,' with a number; on another book would be seen the name corresponding to this number; and, in compiling this copy, the witness would write down the name instead of the number—thus translating it, and condensing two books into one. The letters 'A.,' 'P.' signified that the tract had been applied for and paid for. In respect of reservations for schools, the words, 'reserved for schools,' were written on the...
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... ... City of Jackson, 165 Miss ... 660, 145 So. 86, with respect to the "Smith map" ... therein mentioned and considered competent. See Hedrick ... v. Hughes, 82 U.S. (15 Wall.) 123, 21 L.Ed. 52; ... Brown v. Weare, 348 Mo. 135, 141[3], 152 S.W. 2d ... 649, 653[6] and cases cited; ... ...
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