Bent v. Hall

Citations

• 119 F. 342
• 56 C.C.A. 246
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4675

Syllabus

<p>1. Equity—Grounds for Belief—Sufficiency of Bill.</p> <p>A bill alleged that complainant made application to the commissioner of the general land office of Texas to purchase a section of school land owned by the state, and that his application was accepted, and he made the payments required by the statute as they came due, until the treasurer refused to receive further payments; that thereafter the land commissioner attempted to cancel his contract, and awarded and attempted to sell the land to another, who conveyed his pretended right to the land to defendants. The bill prayed that defendants be required to produce any writings under which they claimed; that the same be canceled, and complainant adjudged the owner of the land; and for a writ of possession. There was no allegation with respect to the possession of the land, either past or present, iHeld, that such bill did not state a cause of action for relief in equity, since it showed neither title nor possession in complainant to support a suit to remove a cloud from his title, and afforded no basis for a decree against defendants which would be effective to give him either title or possession, or to establish and enforce his contract with the , land commissioner, who was not a party to the suit.</p>