Dotson v. Moss

Citations

• 58 Tex. 152
• 1882 Tex. LEXIS 225

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence — Outstanding title.—A defendant in trespass to try title may properly ask the plaintiff, when examined as a witness on the stand, if he knew of a deed from the original grantee to a third person, when the object is to establish the former existence of a lost deed in order to lay the basis for the introduction of evidence of its contents. But when the evidence was objected to as being intended to prove plaintiff’s knowledge of such a deed conveying valid title, and the defendant did not disclaim such intention, the objection was properly sustained.</p> <p>2. Copies.— A certified copy of a grant from the general land office, dated in 1867, in which was incorporated what purported to be a copy of a deed and power of attorney, dated in 1830, and which was offered as a certified copy of an ancient instrument, held,</p> <p>(1) The existence of the original deed in the land office, and its antiquity, were facts virtually assumed in the proposition to introduce the copy, and the copy was correctly excluded.</p> <p>(2) The original deed should have been produced or accounted for.</p> <p>(3) The certificate of the commissioner of the land office, authenticating the instrument offered as a copy of “ an ancient instrument ” in his department, would not tend to establish its genuineness or to prove its contents.</p> <p>3. Practice.—Refusal to give a charge, though abstractly correct, constitutes no ground for reversal, when, under the facts, a verdict based on it could not be sustained.</p> <p>4. Limitation.— The plea of limitation of ten years is not sustained, when the adverse occupancy of different persons is relied on, unless the defendant can show privity between himself and others on whose possession he relies.</p> <p>5. Surprise.—The supreme court will not reverse the judgment of the district court, refusing a new trial on the ground of surprise, on account of .the testimony of a witness, when there has been no prudence exercised in ascertaining what he wo