Henry King v. State of West Virginia No 445 Henry King v. State of West Virginia No 446 Henry King v. State of West Virginia No 447

• Decision Date: 31 January 1910
• Docket Number: Nos. 445,446,447,s. 445
• Citation: 30 S.Ct. 225,54 L.Ed. 396,216 U.S. 92
• Parties: HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err., v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA and Spruce Coal & Lumber Company. NO 445. HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err., v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, Egbert Mills, Egbert Mills, Trustee, et al. NO 446. HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err., v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, U. B. Buskirk, Trustee, et al. NO 447
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

216 U.S. 92

30 S.Ct. 225

54 L.Ed. 396

HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err.,

v STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA and Spruce Coal & Lumber Company.

NO 445.

HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err.,

v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, Egbert Mills, Egbert Mills,

Trustee, et al.

NO 446.

HENRY C. KING, Plff. in Err.,

v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, U. B. Buskirk, Trustee, et al.

NO 447.

Nos. 445, 446, 447.

Argued December 14, 15, 16, 1909.

Decided January 31, 1910.

Messrs. Hannis Taylor, Maynard F. Stiles, and John G. Carlisle for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. John F. Dillon, C. W. Campbell, Frank Cox, Harry Hubbard, Edward C. Lyon, Malcolm Jackson, John A. Sheppard.

Wells Goodykoontz, James F. Brown, William R. Lilly, and William G. Conley for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

These writs of error are taken in a suit by the state of West Virginia, brought in May, 1894, for the sale of so much of a tract of 500,000 acres of land granted to Robert Morris in 1795 as is within the state and liable to be sold for the benefit of the school fund. See 64 W. Va. 545, 63 S. E. 495; id. 546, 584, 63 S. E. 468; id. 610, 63 S. E. 495. The Constitution of the state provides as follows: 'It shall be the duty of every owner of land to have it entered on the land books of the county in which it, or a part of it, is situated, and to cause himself to be charged with the taxes thereon and pay the same. When for any five successive years after the year 1869, the owner of any tract of land containing 1,000 acres or more, shall not have been charged on such books with state tax on said land, then, by operation hereof, the land shall be forfeited and the title thereto vest in the state.' Art. 13, § 6. By chapter 105 of the Code of the state, as amended by the act of February 23, 1893, chap. 24, a suit like the present is to be brought by the state for the sale of land so forfeited, and the former owner is to receive the surplus proceeds if he files a petition and proves title, or, if he prefers, may redeem. Further details are stated in King v. Mullins, 171 U. S. 404, 43 L. ed. 214, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 925, where the validity of the system created by the Constitution and statute referred to was considered and maintained in a suit concerning this same tract. See also King v. Panther Lumber Co. 171 U. S. 437, 43 L. ed. 227, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 573; Swann v. West Virginia, 188 U. S. 739, 47 L. ed. 677, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 848.

These provisions being in the interest of actual settlement in the country, the Constitution also provides that all titles of the state to forfeited lands, etc., not redeemed or redeemable, shall be vested in any person, other than the one in default, his heirs or devisees, for so much thereof as he shall have held for ten years under color of title, having paid taxes on the same for any five of the ten years, with ulterior provisions if there be no such person. The statute further provides for bringing in parties interested, and enacts that land already sold under the statute, on which taxes since have been regularly paid, or land transferred by the Constitution, shall be dismissed from the suit, and thus exempts it both from sale in that suit and from the redemption incident to the proceedings for a sale. §6. The redemption allowed is only from the title still remaining in the state, and does not affect titles under previous sales or the Constitution; the petitioner acquires no other title than that which was vested in him immediately before forfeiture. § 17. By § 20, the bar of the final decree is limited in accord with these provisions of § 17.

After the bill in this case had been filed and several times amended, the plaintiff in error, King, answered, in June, 1896, setting up title to the 500,000 acres, charging that the statute which attempts to work out a forfeiture of land etc., is contrary to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, but asking 'if it would be adjudged that said tract of land is forfeited to the state of West Virginia by reason of the nonassessment thereof,' etc., that a decree be made allowing him to redeem. The answer also set out a very long list of claims to parcels of the tract, and charged that the persons making them should be made parties defendant to the bill. There were parties intervening at this stage, but they do not seem to need notice. The case was sent to a commissioner, who found among other things, that about 10,000 acres of the land were not subject to junior claims, and that the taxes and interest were $2,195.65. On his report coming in, King paid $3,090.08 for taxes and costs, and thereupon, on September 30, 1897, a decree was entered declaring that King 'has the right, superior to all others, to redeem said land so far as the record in this case shows,' and that the portion of the land lying in West Virginia, 'so far as the title thereto is in said state,' which portion is adjudged to be bounded as set forth in the decree, 'is hereby, by the said Henry C. King, fully redeemed; and all forfeitures of said land, and taxes and interest heretofore charged or chargeable thereon, are hereby released and discharged.' 'But it is provided that this redemption shall not affect the rights of any person not party to this suit may have, if any, under the provisions of § 3, article 13, of the Constitution of the state of West Virginia, such rights and claims not being in any manner adjudged or determined hereby.' In fact, whatever it said, the decree could not grant a redemption affecting anybody's right but that of the state. The rights of purchasers at court sales and transferees under the Constitution are protected by § 17 of the act of 1893, as pointed out by the supreme court of appeals. 64 W. Va. 590, 599, 63 S. E. 468.

The state appealed in October, 1898, to the supreme court of appeals, and on February 7, 1900, the decree 'in so far as it allows the appellee, Henry C. King, to redeem the land described in this decree by reason of the payment of the sum of $3,090.08, costs, taxes, and interest as fixed by the circuit court, and in so far as it ascertains such costs, taxes, and interest,' was reversed and in all other respects affirmed. The cause was ordered to be remanded with directions to permit King to amend his petition so as to carefully describe and accurately locate the portion of said land he desired to redeem. 47 W. Va. 437, 35 S. E. 30. A little later in the same year (1900) the state submitted a fifth amended bill, making the persons mentioned in King's answer as having interest in the tract parties, and asked the directions of the court, King now, contrary to his answer above stated, protesting, on the ground of the above-mentioned decree. The bill was ordered to be filed, and in March, 1901, King filed an amended answer and petition, stating that he had not been able in the time allowed to define all the land, but that he did there give a careful description of certain portions upon which he desired to pay such future sum as was properly chargeable thereon. Schedules were set forth and the prayer was to be permitted to pay the sum properly chargeable upon the land above described and to be described in a supplemental petition.

In many instances the land claimed by the newly joined parties was dismissed without controversy from the suit, as subject neither to sale nor to redemption under the Constitution and laws. In others, the land claimed was within the boundaries established by the above-mentioned decree of September 30, 1897, but was alleged to be outside the true lines of the Morris grant, the correctness of the decree being denied. And again, claims inconsistent with King's right to redeem, that were not admitted by him, were set up on the footing of purchases from the state. On July 5, 1901, the case was referred to a commissioner to report, among other things, the quantity, description, and location of the portions of the Morris grant and other land concerned, to which the title then remained in the state, and which was subject to sale. On July 14, King answered the answers of some of the new parties, claiming portions of the land. In September, he applied for a prohibition against the proceeding in the county court, which was denied on the ground that the court had jurisdiction, and that, if it made a mistacke, it would be only error to be corrected in the usual way. King v. Doolittle, 51 W. Va. 91, 41 S. E. 145. The commissioner proceeded to take evidence, King being represented at the hearing, and this lasted until April 6, 1903, when the report was filed. On December 6, 1905, the court made a decree establishing very different boundaries from those fixed by the decree of September 30, 1897, and cutting down the Morris grant to about 97,000 or, as the plaintiff in error says 90,000 acres. Meantime the state made a sixth, seventh, and eighth amendment to its bill, bringing in new defendants, but these seem to need no further mention.

Motions had been made by Egbert Mills to dismiss a tract of 112 acres from the suit, and by the Spruce Coal & Lumber Company to dismiss a tract of 7,000 acres, and by others, on the ground that, as has been stated by the statute under which the suit was instituted, whenever it should appear to the court that any part of the land in question had been sold by the state in former similar proceedings, etc., or was held under § 3 of article 13 of the state Constitution, the bill should be dismissed as to such part.

On February 23, 1905, the act of 1893 was amended so as to allow defendant claimants to file deeds or certified copies of deeds made under an order of court in previous proceedings for the sale of school land, or patents from Virginia or West Virginia, purporting to convey any part of the land in suit; and it was enacted that if the state or some other claimant did not, within thirty days, allege and prove by a proper certificate that such part again had become forfeited since the date of the conveyance, the court...