South Fla. Farms Co. v. Goodno
| Decision Date | 15 November 1922 |
| Citation | 94 So. 672,84 Fla. 532 |
| Parties | SOUTH FLORIDA FARMS CO. v. GOODNO. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Dec. 11, 1922.
Error to Circuit Court, De Soto County; George W. Whitehurst Judge.
Action by the South Florida Farms Company against E. E. Goodno. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff brings error.
Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
'Section of land' not containing approximately 640 acres properly called 'fractional section.' A section of land, as a legal subdivision under the congressional rules of survey, is a mile square, and usually contains 640 acres. When a section is not whole or regular in its contents--that is, where it does not contain approximately 640 acres--it may properly be called a 'fractional section.'
Water lines, and not meander lines, control area of fractional section. Where, because of the presence of a permanent body of water which is approximately meandered in making the survey, there is a deficiency in the area of a section, it is referred to as a 'fractional section.' In such cases the water lines, and not the meander lines, may control as boundaries, even though there may be some land between the meander line and the water line.
Riparian owner's boundary lines under water controlled by state laws. Where a grantee's boundary lines make him a riparian owner, the nature and extent of such grantee's title to lands under the water to which his boundaries extend are controlled by the laws of the state.
Boundaries of fractional section controlled by survey and meander lines. Where the area to constitute a whole or regular section of land is in place, but a portion of the land is, at the time of the survey temporarily flooded, or is of such nature that it cannot then be readily surveyed, or where the surveyors or officials negligently or purposely do not survey such portion, the survey may subsequently be completed. Meanwhile the surveyed portion is referred to as a 'fractional section,' and in such case a conveyance of the 'fractional section' is, in general, controlled in its boundaries by the survey and meander lines.
Conveyance of fractional section patented in accordance with survey plat covers only surveyed land. Where a fractional section is patented in accordance with the plat of survey, and the meander lines of the survey do not approximately conform to a permanent water line that is referred to in the survey field notes and plats, the conveyance covers only the surveyed land in the section.
Notes lines, landmarks, and other particulars appearing on official plat of survey considered in determining land included in patent. Where public lands are patented 'according to the official plat of the survey returned to the General Land Office by the Surveyor General,' the notes, lines landmarks, and other particulars appearing upon the plat become as much a part of the patent, and are as such to be considered in determining what it is intended to include, as if they were set forth in it.
Title passes under Swamp Land Act only when lands are listed and patented. The Swamp Land Act of September 28, 1850 (U. S Comp. St. §§ 4958-4960), in itself passed to the state only an inchoate title, and not until the lands are listed and patented under the act can the title become perfect.
Where field notes and plats show land bounded by permanent body of water, water line, and not meander line, boundary is where waters were faithfully meandered. The rule of general application is that, where a patent to public land refers to the field notes and plats of an official survey, which field notes and plats show that the land is bounded by a permanent body of water, and that in making the official survey the waters were in fact faithfully meandered, the water line, and not the meander line, is in general the boundary.
Meander line boundary where survey meanders not permanent body of water. Where an official survey meanders not a permanent body of water, but low marsh or similar lands that are adjacent to other lands being surveyed, the meander line is the boundary.
Patent controls acreage of fractional section when meander line run with reference to marshy lands. Where a patent covers 'the whole of fractional section 28' in a stated township and range 'according to the official plats of survey,' and the official plats of survey referred to in the patent and the approved 'list and plats of the land' for which the patent was issued to the state under the Swamp Land Act of September 28, 1850 (U. S. Comp. St. §§ 4958-4960), show that said fractional section 28 contains 27.50 acres, and the plats of survey show that the meander line was run with reference to marshy lands, and not with reference to a permanent body of water, the patent covers only the 27.50 acres, and not the entire unsurveyed section, even though there is a navigable stream running through another portion of unsurveyed section 28; and a subsequent patent to the state covering 'all of unsurveyed section 28' of the same township and range includes that portion of the land in section 28 that is not embraced in the 27.50 acres covered by the prior patent. A conveyance by the state of 'the whole of fractional section 28' covers only the 27.50 acres that had been patented to the state as 'the whole of fractional section 28.'
Leitner & Leitner, of Arcadia, for plaintiff in error.
Treadwell & Treadwell, of Arcadia, for defendant in error.
The following is a portion of the official plat of the survey of township 42 south of range 30 east of the principal meridian, covering sections 28, 29, and 30 of said township, showing the south and west boundaries of section 30 and the subdivision meanders survey lines in sections 28 and 30 that were run in 1859 and 1870, the plat being certified by the Surveyor General as being 'strictly conformable to the field notes of the survey thereof on file in this office which have been examined and approved';
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'No. 12.
'A list of swamp and overflowed lands selected as inuring to the state of Florida under the provisions of the act of Congress approved September 28, 1850, Revised Statutes, section 2479, in the district of lands subject to sale at Gainesville, formerly Tampa, Florida.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Surveyed Swamp Lands. Area. -------------------------------------------------------------- Parts of Sections. Section. Township. Range. Acres. Hdths. -------------------------------------------------------------- * * ** * * * * * * * * All of fractional 28 42 30 27 50 All of fractional 30 42 30 233 90 * * * * * * * * --------------------------------------------------------------
'Department of the Interior, General Land Office.
'October 25, 1879.
'Respectfully submitted for approval.
'J. M. Armstrong, Acting Commissioner.
'Department of the Interior, E. M. M.
'Washington, D. C., Nov. 8, 1879.
'The foregoing list of swamp selections is hereby approved, subject to any legal rights that may exist to any of the lands therein described.
C. Schurz, Secretary.
'Swamp Lands.
'No. 135.
'A list of swamp and overflowed lands selected as inuring to the state of Florida, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. 519), in the district of lands subject to sale at Gainesville, Florida, containing 2,990.00 acres. List 135.
'List of Swamp and Overflowed Lands.
'District of Gainesville, Florida, Tallahassee Meridian.
'Washington, D. C., January 15, 1909.
'This certifies that the lands embraced in this list, Florida swamp land list No. 135, containing an estimated area of two thousand nine hundred and ninety (2,990) acres, were reported to this office as swamp land July 14, 1886; that all of the surveyed lands in the township, except section 16, were patented to the state as swamp land February 14, 1880; that the unsurveyed lands included in this list are designated on the plat as an 'impracticable sawgrass marsh,' and that the field notes of survey made in 1871 show the land to be unsurveyable and of the character indicated on the plat, and that no claim adverse to that of the state to any of said lands appears of record.
Sam'l W. Snow, Examiner.
'Approved: I. R. Conwell, Acting Chief of Division.'
'Department of the Interior, General Land Office,
'Washington, D. C., January 18, 1909.
'The tracts of land embraced in this list, Florida swamp list No. 135, containing two thousand nine hundred and ninety (2,990) acres, are decided, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to be swamp lands and to inure to the state under the swamp land grant.
Fred Dennett, Commissioner.
'Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary,
'Washington, D. C. January 18, 1909.
'This list, Florida swamp land list No. 135, containing two thousand nine hundred and ninety (2,990) acres, is hereby approved subject to any valid adverse rights that may exist to the tracts therein described.
'Frank Pierce, First Assistant Secretary.'
The following certificate of the commissioner of agriculture was offered in evidence by the plaintiff, but excluded on motion of the defendant:
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