Holmes v. Jones

• Decision Date: 29 September 1975
• Docket Number: No. 48222,48222
• Citation: 318 So.2d 865
• Parties: A. B. HOLMES, Individually and as next friend of Alvin Holmes et al. v. C. W. JONES et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 865

318 So.2d 865

A. B. HOLMES, Individually and as next friend of Alvin Holmes et al. v. C. W. JONES et al.

No. 48222.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Sept. 29, 1975.

Charles H. Ramberg, Brandon, Barry H. Powell, John L. Maxey, II, Jackson, for appellants.

W. E. McIntyre, Jr., McLaurin & Nicols, George T. Kelly, Brandon, Chill, Chill & Dove, Jackson, for appellees.

Before GILLESPIE, SMITH and ROBERTSON, JJ.

ROBERTSON, Justice.

A. B. Holmes and Bobbie D. Mangum, individually and as next friends and fathers respectively of Alvin Holmes and Bobbie Jean Mangum, minors, brought suit in the Chancery Court of Rankin County, Mississippi, against Milton Singletary, Hilton Richardson, R. L. Cross, Tom Rives and Steen Patrick, Supervisors of Rankin County, Mississippi, and the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, the surety on their official bonds, and C. W. Jones, for the illegal and unconstitutional leasing of 16th Section school lands to C. W. Jones for a grossly inadequate rental.

The complainants averred in their bill of complaint:

'Minor complainants are educable children residing in Township 3 North, Range 4 East, Rankin County, Mississippi, and are attending public school in the County-Wide School District of Rankin County, the public school district in which said township is located. Adult complainants are inhabitants of said township and are the parents of educable children residing in said township.

'The State of Mississippi holds title to Section 16, Township 3 North, Range 4 East, Rankin County, Mississippi, as trustee for the benefit of the inhabitants and educable children of said township for the support of the public schools therein. Pursuant to state law, the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County acts as agent for the state as trustee of said section in the leasing of said section for the benefit of said educable children and inhabitants.'

The complainants attached to their bill of complaint as exhibits:

1. A copy of an Order of the Board of Supervisors duly and unanimously adopted on January 26, 1970, and recorded on the Board's official Minutes, authorizing and ordering a 25-year lease of 150 acres of 16th Section land to C. W. Jones for an annual rental of $37.50, being approximately $.25 per acre per year.

2. Copy of the lease, executed on January 26, 1970, by 'THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF RANKIN COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI BY (Signed) C. W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, Mississippi' to himself, C. W. Jones.

The order of the Board of Supervisors, Exhibit 'F' to the bill of complaint, recites among other things:

'C. W. Jones having heretofore made application to this Board for a twenty-five year lease of the Sixteenth Section property now owned by said applicant, situated in Section 16, Township 3, Range 4, in Rankin County, Mississippi, . . . and the Board finds that said property (150 acres) should be leased for a term of twenty-five years from this date, for a ground rental payable annually, in advance, and the County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, Mississippi concurs therein.

'It is therefore ordered by the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County, Mississippi, that the hereinabove described property be and the same is hereby leased to the said C. W. Jones for a term of twenty-five (25) years from this date at and for a ground rental, payable annually, in advance, the sum of $37.50 per annum and upon the payment of such first annual rental into the County Depository of said County to the credit of the Interest Fund of Township 3, Range 4, and the execution and delivery by the lessee to the County Superintendent of Education of said County of their notes for the rent thereof for the remaining years of the term of such lease, the County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County is hereby authorized and directed to execute unto the said C. W. Jones, a lease, which shall be substantially in the form as adopted by this Board at its April 7, 1969 meeting, as shown by the minutes of this Board of said meeting.' (Emphasis added).

The lease from C. W. Jones, County Superintendent of Education of Rankin County, to C. W. Jones, individually, recites:

'By virtue of the authority conferred on me by the order of the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County, Mississippi, and in consideration of the sum of $37.50 paid unto the County Depository of said County to the credit of the Township Fund, being the annual rental due on said property for one year from this date, and a like annual payment to be made by the lessee on the 26th day of January of each year hereafter during the term of this lease, as evidenced by notes therefor this day executed by said lessee and delivered to the County Superintendent of Education of said County, said Board of Supervisors, acting by and through the County Superintendent of Education of said County, hereby lease and lets unto the said C. W. Jones, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, for a term of twenty-five (25) years, . . ..

'If default is made in the payment of any annual rental herein required to be paid, this lease may be terminated by and for the county by the County Superintendent of Education of said county executing and filing in the office of the Chancery Clerk of said county a statement certifying that default had been made in the payment of such rental.' (Emphasis added).

Exhibit 'H' to the bill of complaint is a Lease Contract from C. W. Jones as lessor to David Patrick as lessee, of the same 150 acres of 16th section land (less 10 acres, and plus 7 acres in Section 15), for a three-year term for an annual rental of $900. The lease recites:

'The Lessee is to pay as rent therefor as follows:

$900.00 on or before March 15, 1970, and on or before the same date in each succeeding year for the term of this lease.

'This lease is effective from the date stated above and will expire on December 31, 1973, unless renewed by mutual consent of the parties.' (Emphasis added).

The complainants specifically prayed for a judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, for $18,695.14, (which complainants averred was the value of the 25-year lease at a fair rental of $1,462.50 per year, discounted at 6% per annum), and also for general relief.

The chancellor sustained general demurrers, one filed by the Supervisors and one filed by C. W. Jones, on March 1, 1974, to the bill of complaint.

Complainants contend on this appeal that the Chancery Court erred in sustaining general demurrers to their bill of complaint. We agree.

As correctly stated in the bill of complaint, Sixteenth Section school lands are trust lands to be administered for the benefit of the inhabitants and educable children of the township for the support of the public schools therein.

Mississippi Code Annotated section 29-3-1 (1972) provides:

'The county boards of supervisors of the several counties wherein there are situated any sixteenth section school lands or lands in lieu thereof, under the general supervision of the state land commissioner, shall have control and...