Reyes v. Middleton

• Decision Date: 02 July 1895
• Citation: 36 Fla. 99,17 So. 937
• Parties: REYES et al. v. MIDDLETON et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

17 So. 937

36 Fla. 99

REYES et al. v. MIDDLETON et al.

Florida Supreme Court

July 2, 1895

Appeal from circuit court, St. Johns county; James M. Baker, Judge.

Bill by George C. Middleton and others against Ramon C. Reyes administrator of the estate of Jose E. Reyes, and others. From a judgment overruling a demurrer, defendants appeal. Reversed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. A deed or other instrument purporting to convey land that shows upon its face that the grantors therein were out of possession of the land granted at the time of its execution and that such land at the time was adversely held by another is void upon its face, as to such adverse occupant, and, as to him, does not create such a cloud upon his title as will authorize the interposition of a court of equity on his behalf for its removal.

2. It is well settled that a court of equity will never lend its aid, by injunction, to restrain the libeling or slandering of title to property, where there is no breach of trust or contract right involved, but that in such cases the remedy if any, is at law, and that the alleged insolvency of the libelant, in such cases, will not, of itself, authorize the interference of the court of equity.

COUNSEL M. C. Jordan and W. A. MacWilliams, for appellants.

C. P. & J. C. Cooper, for appellees.

OPINION

TAYLOR J.

On the 26th day of July, A. D. 1888, George C. Middleton, Charles E Gard, Burton W. Cole, William H. Erwin, Betsy P. White, William S. Vansickle, Isaac N. Vansickle, Marion R. Cooper, Frank F. Smith, Joseph Randall (as administrator of the estate of Erastus Randall, deceased), R. M. Simms, W. H. Simpson, Ira S. Bunker, Edgar F. R. Fripp, and T. B. George, all of the county of St. Johns, as complainants, filed their bill in equity in the circuit court of St. Johns county against Ramon C. Reyes (in his own right, and as administrator of the estate of Jose B. Reyes, deceased), Carmen Reyes, Innocencia Reyes, Maria del Rosario Reyes, Gabina Andreu, and Emanuel P. Andreu, her husband, and Adolphus N. Pacetti, all of St. Johns county. The bill alleges, in substance: 'That the complainants are severally seised and possessed, in fee, of certain portions of that tract of land situated in St. Johns county, Florida, known as section 37 in township 8 south, of range 29 east, located on Moultrie creek, the same being a Spanish grant confirmed to Jose B. Reyes, containing 223.10 acres; the several respective portions thereof owned and possessed severally by the respective complainants being particularly described in divers deeds of the same to them, that are attached to the bill, as exhibits thereto. That complainants are now, severally, in the actual possession of the several portions of said section of land conveyed to each of them severally by said deed exhibits, and that they, and those under whom they claim, have been in the actual possession of same ever since the year 1873. That each of complainants have made improvements upon their several tracts of land, by clearing, cultivating, and fencing same, and by building houses thereon and planting orange groves thereon, and by the making and cultivation thereof, and that the said several tracts or portions of said land described in said deed exhibits are the homes of each of complainants, severally, to whom said tracts are, in and by said deeds, duly conveyed. That the said defendants set up and assert some pretended claim of title to or interest in said lands, by reason of their alleged claim that they, with the exception of Adolphus N. Pacetti, are the heirs at law of one Jose B. Reyes, the grantee to whom said lands were duly confirmed as a Spanish grant. That complainants have no personal knowledge whether or not the defendants are in fact the heirs at law of said Jose B. Reyes, but they say that said defendants have no title whatever to said lands; the same having been duly and regularly assessed in the year A. D. 1853, and duly and regularly sold on the 1st day of May, A. D. 1854, by one R. B. Canova, the then sheriff and ex officio tax collector of St. Johns county, Florida, for nonpayment of taxes, and said lands having been then and there purchased by the state of Florida, and a deed for same having been executed by said Canova, as said tax collector, to the register of public lands of said state of Florida, and on the 4th day of February, A. D. 1873, sold and conveyed to one B. F. Oliveros by the then commissioner of lands and immigration of said state of Florida, in accordance with the statutes in such cases provided. That by reason of said preceding sales and conveyances the said Jose B. Reyes, and those claiming under him, were divested of title to said land, and the same became vested in said B. F. Oliveros, who, on the 24th day of February, A. D. 1874, filed said deed for record in the clerk's office of St. Johns county, state of Florida, and that he entered into actual occupancy of said land in the year 1873, and that the said Oliveros, and those claiming under him, including your orators, have been in the actual, open, notorious, adverse, and exclusive occupation and possession of said above-described real estate ever since the same was so taken possession of by said Oliveros up to the date of filing this bill, and that complainants are now in the actual, open, notorious, adverse, and exclusive occupation and possession of said lands, and neither of the said defendants are now, or ever have been, in the occupation or possession of any part of said land. That, by conveyances through divers different persons from the said Oliveros to complainants, they have acquired the title to said land, and are now seised of title in fee thereto, that appears by the record of deeds of said county of St. Johns, and that defendants have no title whatever to said lands. That the defendant Adolphus N. Pacetti claims some interest in said land by reason of an alleged power of attorney to him, coupled with an interest in said land, executed by the other of said defendants to said Pacetti on the 21st day of September, 1883, and recorded in book of Miscellaneous Records, C, pages 61 and 64 of Records of St. Johns County, Florida; said alleged power of attorney purporting to authorize said Pacetti, in the name of the other of said defendants, or of said Ramon C. Reyes, as administrator aforesaid, to sue for, recover, and gain possession of said land, in consideration of an interest therein, as therein stated, as will appear by a certified copy of said power of attorney attached to the bill as an exhibit. That for some years past, to wit, since about the 21st day of September, A. D. 1883, said defendants, and particularly said Ramon C. Reyes and Adolphus N. Pacetti, although out of possession of said land, and the records of said county showing the title of complainants to same, as above set forth, have continuously and publicly stated to divers persons in said county, and in the city of St. Augustine particularly, that they, the said Reyeses, as heirs at law of Jose B. Reyes, owned said land, and that said Pacetti was their agent and attorney in fact, with said alleged one-half interest therein, in the matter of taking possession of and asserting title to said land, and in some manner have openly asserted that complainants had no title to said land; and said defendants, from time to time since the 21st day of September, A. D. 1883, have posted up, and caused to be posted up, in many public places, and distributed to divers persons, in the city of St. Augustine, in said county, printed and written circulars, warning and threatening all persons against buying said land of complainants, and of lawsuits that will result therefrom, and offering to sell the same themselves, through Ramon C. Reyes, in his...