Flemming v. Reed

Citations

• 37 Tex. 152

Syllabus

<p>1. A lapse of thirty-three years is too great a delay for even courts of equity to lend a listening ear to parties who have slept so long upon their rights.</p> <p>2. In the performance of a contract for the location of land and the procurement of a patent therefor, a delay of nineteen years is unreasonable ; and when, besides such a delay in the locator’s execution of his contract, a further delay of fourteen years transpired before his representatives resorted to the courts for an enforcement of the contract, and the delay is not accounted for, it is to be presumed that there was a settlement of the matter by the contracting parties, and the defense of stale demand will defeat the action.</p> <p>3. A power of attorney, made in 1836, for the purpose of enabling the attorney to locate the maker’s headlight, was recorded in 1838, without other authentication than a certificate of a chief justice of a county that “ the within instrument was duly proven before me, the 20th day of “ February, 1838.” Held, that the instrument was not so authenticated as to be entitled to record.</p>