Robert Wright v. Ellen Teresa Morgan

• Decision Date: 26 October 1903
• Docket Number: No. 13,13
• Citation: 24 S.Ct. 6,191 U.S. 55,48 L.Ed. 89
• Parties: ROBERT R. WRIGHT, Jr., as Mayor of the City of Denver, Plff. in Err. , v. ELLEN TERESA MORGAN et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

191 U.S. 55

24 S.Ct. 6

48 L.Ed. 89

ROBERT R. WRIGHT, Jr., as Mayor of the City of Denver, Plff. in Err.,

v ELLEN TERESA MORGAN et al.

No. 13.

Argued October 13, 14, 1903.

Decided October 26, 1903.

Messrs.Frederick A. Williams, Halstead L. Ritter,Clay B. Whitford, Greeley W. Whitford, and Henry E. May for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Clayton C. Dorsey and Willard Teller for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an action of ejectment brought in the Colorado state court and removed to the circuit court of the United States. The case was tried in the latter court, and a verdict and judgment were ordered for the plaintiff on the undisputed facts. On exceptions, a judgment was ordered for the defendants by the circuit court of appeals (45 C. C. A. 421, 106 Fed. 452, see 25 C. C. A. 97, 49 U. S. App. 126, 79 Fed. 577), and the case was brought here by writ of error. The defendants claim title under a sale by the city of Denver and a deed executed by the mayor of the city. The plaintiff contends that the act of Congress under which the original patent was granted made the land inalienable; that the patent did not give the city a legal title; that the city had no power to convey; that the alleged authority of the city to the mayor to execute the deed was insufficient; and that the deed did not follow the resolution upon which the defendants rely.

The act of Congress, approved May 21, 1872, chap. 187 (17 Stat. at L. 140), was entitled 'An Act to Enable the City of Denver to Purchase Certain Lands in Colorado for a Cemetery;' and it authorized the mayor of the city to enter, at the minimum price, certain lands, including the land in question, 'to be held and used for a burial place for said city and vicinity.' The price was paid, and a patent was issued purporting to convey to the 'mayor, in trust for said city, and to his successors,' the said land, not referring to the above act otherwise than by the words 'in conformity with the several acts of Congress in such case made and provided.' This patent was confirmed by an act of Congress approved January 25, 1890, chap. 3 (26 Stat. at L. 2); and the city of Denver was authorized 'to vacate the use of the said land, or any portion thereof, as a cemetery, and to appropriate and use the same or any part thereof for a public park or grounds.'

After the passage of the first act, Joseph P. Macheboeuf, the Roman Catholic bishop of Denver, made a petition to the mayor and common council of Denver, representing that in 1863 he had purchased a part of the said lands, and that the same had been, and was, used as a burial place, and asking for a conveyance to him and his successors in office. A committee recommended that the petition be granted, and the council voted to adopt the report. On February 6, 1874, for a stipulated price which was received, a deed was executed by the mayor in the name of the city to Macheboeuf, described as bishop of Colorado, habendum to him, his heirs and assigns, 'for the purposes aforesaid.' The land in controversy is a part of the land embraced in this deed, and, never having been used for burial, was conveyed by Macheboeuf to the defendants' predecessor in title.

On the foregoing facts, it is sufficiently evident that the plaintiff has no title, and that would be enough to show that the judgment must be affirmed. The action is brought by the present mayor in his own name, not by the city. Furthermore, it also is plain enough that the city did get a title by the patent. The first act of Congress contemplated a purchase by the city, and the patent was to the mayor in trust for the city. This trust was executed by the statute of uses. The second act recites that the city has received and paid for a patent. It is argued that the words in the first act, 'to be held and used for a burial place for said city and vicinity,' show a trust more extensive than the city, and therefore prevent the execution of the use. But these words are not in the patent, and, if they had any effect, only would impose a trust upon the city; they would not prevent...