Seymour v. Williams

• Citation: 139 Ala. 414,36 So. 187
• Parties: SEYMOUR ET AL. v. WILLIAMS.
• Decision Date: 04 February 1904
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

36 So. 187

139 Ala. 414

SEYMOUR ET AL. v. WILLIAMS.

Supreme Court of Alabama

February 4, 1904

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lee County; A. A. Evans, Judge.

Action by A. B. Seymour and others against Dock Williams. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.

Ejectment to recover a tract of land which was described in the complaint as follows: "Two acres of land lying in the west half of section 24, township 18, and range 29, and situated on the southwest part, and on line of said property known as the 'Silas Place'; the said two acres being the house and lot now occupied by one Dock Williams." The plaintiff claimed the land sued for as the purchaser at the foreclosure sale of a mortgage, and offered to introduce in evidence a mortgage executed by the defendant and others to A. I. and M. E. Seymour, and also a deed executed by A. I and M. E. Seymour to the plaintiff. In the mortgage and in the deed the lands conveyed were described as set out in the opinion. The defendant separately objected to the introduction in evidence of the mortgage and of the deed upon the ground that the description of the lot in said mortgage and said deed, respectively, were too indefinite. The court sustained each of these objections, and to each of these rulings the plaintiff separately excepted. There were other rulings upon the evidence, consequent upon the execution of the mortgage and the deed; but it is unnecessary, under the present opinion, to set out the facts in reference thereto.

T. L Kennedy, for appellants.

McCLELLAN C.J.

A conveyance of "two acres of land lying in the west half of section 24, township 18, range 29, situated on the southwest part and on line of said property, known as Silas place, situated in Lee county, Alabama," is not void on its face for uncertainty of description. We construe the words used to mean that the two-acre lot is in the southwest part of the west half of section 24, and upon the line of that section, and that it (the two-acre lot) is known as the "Silas Place." This last expression, "known as the Silas place," supplies the means of identification by parol evidence; and the description is certain, since it may be made certain by proof of the identity of the Silas place. Of course, if the proof fails to locate any two acres of land in the given subdivision as the Silas place, the plaintiff in this action would fail; but it does not follow upon that...