Barker v. Torrey

Citations

• 69 Tex. 7
• 4 S.W. 646
• 1887 Tex. LEXIS 763

Syllabus

<p>1. Purchaser of Sohool Land. — An actual settler in good faith, who purchased school land under the provisions of the act of April 13, 1883, (Gen. Laws, pi 85), and paid one-thirtieth of the purchase money and one year’s interest, in January, 1884, his application to purchase having been made in December, 1883, thereby satisfied all claim in favor of the State for interest for one year after the date of the purchase, and the land was not subject to forfeiture for non payment of interest for the year 1884.</p> <p>3. Same. — The requirement of the act that one year’s interest should be' paid by such actual settler at the time of purchase, can not he construed as evincing an intention to collect (by way of interest) compensation for the use made of the land before the date of purchase. Such a construction would involve a disregard of the meaning o£ the word interest, which is the compensation allowed by law, or fixed by the parties, to a contract for thé use, forbearance or detention of money.</p> <p>3. Same. — Under the act of April 13, 1883, a purchaser who paid the interest required at the date of purchase in January, 1884, had until the first day of March, 1886, to pay the second instalment of interest. That time was extended by the act of February 16,1885, until the first day of August, 1886.</p> <p>4. Constitution Construed. — A law will not be declared unconstitutional unless it is clearly so, and in cases of doubt it will be held valid.</p> <p>5. Same. — The power of the Legislature, under the Constitution, to'pass an act to suspend for a time the right of the State to forfeit the right of purchasers of school lands for non payment of interest, is a matter of such doubt as to render it improper for the Supreme Court, to declare the act unconstitutional.</p>