Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund v. Root

Decision Date09 April 1912
Citation63 Fla. 666,58 So. 371
PartiesTRUSTEES OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT FUND et al. v. ROOT.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; Minor S. Jones, Judge.

Bill in equity by Charles H. Root against the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund and others. From a decree for complainant, defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

By treaty of February 22, 1819 (8 Stat. 254), the kingdom of Spain ceded 'to the United States in full property and sovereignty, all the territories * * * known by the name of East and West Florida,' with an expressed provision that all the grants of land made by Spain before January 24, 1818 in said territories shall be ratified and confirmed to the persons in possession of the lands.

Under the treaty of February 22, 1819 (8 Stat. 253), the United States acquired the ownership of all the swamp and overflowed lands in the area now constituting the territorial limits of the state of Florida that had not previously been granted by Spain, and the admission of the state of Florida into the Union by the act of Congress approved March 3, 1845 (chapter 48, 5 Stat. 742), did not affect the proprietary rights of the United States in the lands within the state that have been ceded to the United States by Spain where such lands did not constitute the beds or shores of the navigable waters of the state.

The disposition of the swamp and overflowed lands granted to the state by act of Congress of September 28, 1850 (chapter 84, 9 Stat. 519), is within the legislative discretion, the obligation of the sovereign state to observe the condition of the grant that the lands 'shall be applied, exclusively as far as necessary, for the purpose of reclaiming said lands by means of levees and drains, resting only in the sovereign relations of the two governments.

In recognition of the purpose of the grant by the United States to the state of the swamp and overflowed lands within the state, the Legislature by chapter 610, Acts of 1854-55 placed the lands in the 'Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida,' the lands being irrevocably vested in five trustees who are state officers, and their successors in office, 'to hold the same in trust for the uses and purposes,' stated in the act, among such uses and purposes, being the requirement of section 16 of the act (section 620, Gen. Stats. of 1906) that the said trustees shall fix the price of the lands, and make such arrangements for the drainage of the lands as in their judgment may be most advantageous to the fund and the settlement and cultivation of the lands.

The provisions and purposes of sections 1, 2, 16, c. 610, Acts of 1854-55 (sections 616, 617, and 620, General Statutes of 1906), and chapter 3451, Acts of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626, General Statutes of 1906), are not inconsistent or repugnant, but such provisions are intended to operate together for the purpose of securing the drainage settlement, and cultivation of the swamp and overflowed lands that are held by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund under the act of 1855.

While the Act of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626 of the General Statutes of 1906) is in force, it is the duty of the trustees to comply with its provisions where there are lands held by them that are subject to such provisions.

Section 16, c. 610, Acts of 1854-55 (section 620 of the General Statutes of 1906), imposes upon the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund the duty to make such arrangements for the drainage of the swamp and overflowed lands as is most advantageous to the fund and the settlement and cultivation of the lands.

The duty of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to fix the price of the swamp and overflowed lands held by them and to make arrangements for the drainage and settlement and cultivation of the lands is recognized by chapter 3326, Acts of 1881 (section 628, General Statutes of 1906), as well as in special acts granting portions of such lands to railroad and canal companies and others for different purposes of internal improvement.

The provisions of chapter 3451, Acts of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626, General Statutes of 1906), do not impair the statutory duties of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to fix the price and make arrangements for the drainage, settlement, and cultivation of the swamp and overflowed lands of the fund, except that actual settlers have the advantages stated in the act in purchasing 80 acres each of such lands as are subject to the terms of the act of 1883.

When the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund have in effect appropriated or applied lands to the purposes of the trust under the Act of 1855 to drain the swamp and overflowed lands of the fund, such lands are not subject to occupancy and purchase under the act of 1883 (section 624, 625, and 626 of the General Statutes of 1906).

If the matter contained in an answer in an equity cause is relevant or can have any influence in the decision of the subject-matter of the controversy, it is not impertinent.

In a proceeding to require the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to make a conveyance of 80 acres of land under the Act of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626 of the General Statutes of 1906), where there are averments in the answers of the defendants which in effect state that, prior to the entry under the act of 1883, the Trustees had lawfully appropriated or pledged or bound the particular lands for the purposes of the trust to drain the lands under section 16 of the act of 1855 (section 620 of the General Statutes of 1906), exceptions to such averments upon the grounds that they are impertinent and irrelevant should be overruled.

Where debts or land grants or contracts existed as 'legal obligations' against the swamp and overflowed lands held by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund when the Act of 1903 (sections 869, 870, and 871 of the General Statutes of 1906) first became effective, such obligations have priority over the disposition of the fund as provided in said section 869, 870, and 871.

Whatever may be the legal effect of sections 869, 870, and 871 of the General Statutes of 1906, which require the proceeds of swamp and overflowed land to be applied to the construction of hard roads, such sections do not of themselves render impertinent averments in an answer that swamp and overflowed lands which have been applied to the trusts to drain under section 16 of the act of 1855 (section 620, Gen. St. of 1906) are not subject to sale under the act of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626, Gen. St. of 1906).

COUNSEL Park Trammell, Atty. Gen., and W. H. Ellis, of Jacksonville, for appellants.

Stewart & Bly, of De Land, for appellee.

OPINION

WHITFIELD C.J.

The bill of complaint herein was filed by Charles H. Root for the purpose of requiring the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to make to him a conveyance of a certain 80 acres of land under chapter 3451, Acts 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626 of the General Statutes of 1906), which authorize certain classes of actual settlers upon the designated public lands to purchase them at 25 cents per acre, and for the further purpose of having canceled a conveyance of the land made by the Trustees to one Cardner under the authority given the Trustees by sections 1, 2, and 16, c. 610, Acts of 1854-55 (sections 616, 617, and 620 of the General Statutes), relating to internal improvements in the state. An order overruling a demurrer to the bill of complaint was affirmed in Trustees of Internal Imp. Fund v. Root, 59 Fla. 648, 51 So. 535, where a brief outline of the bill will be found.

Exceptions on the ground of impertinency and irrelevancy were sustained to the following portions of the answers filed by the Trustees and by Cardner: That the provisions of chapter 3451 Acts of 1883 (sections 624, 625, and 626 of the General Statutes), 'were enacted after and subsequent to the Law of 1855, being chapter 610, which was the law creating the Internal Improvement Fund and the original trust, and that the provisions thereof cannot in any wise defeat the provisions of said chapter 610 of the Acts of 1854-55. * * * Defendants deny that upon the alleged making of affidavit of complainant and the payment of 25 cents per acre the complainant was entitled to receive a title to said land. * * * These defendants, further answering complainant's bill, say: That by act of Congress of the United States, being an act to enable the state of Arkansas and other states to reclaim the swamp and overflowed lands within their limits, passed and approved the 28th day of September, 1850, and for accuracy of statement, the defendants refer to the act itself, which is made a part of this answer, the state acquired the land for which the complainant is suing and claiming that he is entitled to under the law to which he has made reference. That said lands as well as all the swamp and overflowed lands that have been patented to the state of Florida by the United States government under the said act of Congress of September 28, 1850, were accepted by the state subject to the conditions provided by the said act of Congress. That the said land in question, as well as all other swamp and overflowed lands that have been patented to the state of Florida under the said act of Congress, was granted to the state for the purpose of enabling the state to construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the whole of those swamp and overflowed lands in the state that were unfit by reason of being swamp and overflowed for cultivation. That the said act of Congress among other things provided that the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or direct appropriation in kind, shall be...

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