Williams v. Patterson

• Decision Date: 26 March 1945
• Docket Number: 35797.
• Citation: 198 Miss. 120,21 So.2d 477
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. PATTERSON et al.

21 So.2d 477

198 Miss. 120

WILLIAMS v. PATTERSON et al.

No. 35797.

Supreme Court of Mississippi

March 26, 1945

John Horan, of Water Valley, for appellant.

Ernest Kellner, of Greenville, for appellees.

L. A. SMITH, Justice.

This is a suit to confirm title in complainant below, appellant here to an alleged abandoned right of way formerly used by the Y & M. V. R. Co. in Washington County, and for damages against one of the several defendants, Patterson, who is specifically sued for taking appellant's alleged personal property of ties, rails and gravel from the lands in controversy, and for a permanent injunction to restrain defendants from trespasses of certain sorts enumerated in the prayer of the original bill.

The original bill was filed by appellant on February 17, 1943, in the Chancery Court of Washington County, to which a demurrer was interposed by appellee and sustained, with leave to appellant to amend his bill, which he did. The amended bill undertook to deraign the title of the appellant from the government down to and including his own title, which deraignment ie exceedingly lengthy and involved and voluminous, taking up approximately twelve pages of the bill. The immediate links in the deraignment particularly involved in this action are several, starting with deeds from Patty Campbell and others dated in 1885, conveying a right of way to the Memphis & New Orleans R. R. &amp Levee Company, a Mississippi corporation, which in June of the same year conveyed it by deed of trust to Edward H Pardee and Albert Trolius, trustees, to secure certain indebtedness. In 1887 this trust deed was foreclosed, and the property conveyed at said foreclosure to Chas. M. Calhoun who, on the same day, conveyed it to the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas R. Co., which in 1892, by duly recorded Articles of Consolidation, was consolidated with the Y. & M. V. R. Co. It is alleged that thereby all the property rights, privileges and franchises of the two companies involved in the Articles of Consolidation passed to, and became vested in, the consolidated company, to-wit, the Y. & M. V. R. Co., a Mississippi corporation. The Y. & M. V. R. Co., by quit-claim deed on April 2, 1942, conveyed to appellant all its rights, title, interest and claim in and to the property, which is a strip of land 100 feet wide, lying in Washington County. In June of the same year the Y. & M. V. R. Co. conveyed to appellant by quitclaim deed all of its rights, title, interest and claim to an additional strip of land 100 feet wide in Washington County. Over these strips of land the Y. & M. V. R. Co. had operated a line of railway prior to its conveyances to appellant.

On October 24, 1892, the Y. & M. V. R. Co., it is charged, 'went into possession, and took absolute possession over said lands herein made the subject matter of this suit, exercised absolute control, possession and ownership over the land, using the same as its own lands, and held them adversely against all the world, and continued so to do for nearly fifty years, until April 2, 1942, for the first tract, and until June 18, 1942, for the second tract, and established absolute ownership thereof by adverse possession and occupation, and then conveyed all its title therein to this complainant (appellant here), who holds by himself, and through his predecessors adversely against the entire world for fifty years, and now has a fee simple title hereto.'

A typical deed of the grantors of the right of way to the Memphis & New Orleans R. & Levee Co., all of said deeds being in the same language, in the habendum clause, is as follows: 'To have and to hold by the said party of the second part and assigns forever for the purposes hereinafter specified and for none other. That is to say for the purpose of building, constructing and operating a line of railroad on the right of way, and the said party of the second part shall have the right to dig earth, quarry rock, cut timber, and do such other things on the said right of way as are necessary and convenient in constructing and operating its line of railroad thereon.' Under these conveyances we think the grantee went into possession of a right of way for railroad purposes only.

The charter of the Memphis & New Orleans R. & Levee Co., original purchaser of the right of way as to the land in controversy, was granted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi by Chapter 544, Laws 1882, Section 7 thereof being the pertinent part of the charter involved herein, which reads as follows:

'Sec 7. Be it further enacted, That the right of way is hereby granted said company to pass in and through the State of Mississippi with said railroad and branches and levee, aforesaid, and to enter upon and use all lands, rocks, timber, earth, sand, gravel, water, or other material which may be found on the routes selected and which may belong to the State of Mississippi and be convenient or necessary for the use of said rialroad or levee; and whenever the said railroad or its branches are located over any lands belonging to this State, the title in fee simple to one hundred feet on each side of the center of said railroad track or tracks, shall vest in said company, its successors and assigns; and said company is hereby authorized to cause such examinations and surveys to be made as shall be deemed necessary to determine the most eligible route or routes upon which to locate its line or lines and branches and levee, and to enter upon and appropriate all such lands and materials as may be private property, which may be convenient or necessary for said levee and road, together with one hundred feet on each side of the center of such road and branches; provided, that the right of way along the route of said levee shall be one hundred feet wide on the east or land side of the center line of said levee and six hundred feet wide on the west or river side of such line, in order to allow a growth of...