Jones v. Fancher

Citations

• 61 Tex. 698
• 1884 Tex. LEXIS 177

Syllabus

<p>1. Purchase — Powers — Presumption.— In 1853 a county court caused to be entered on its minutes an order directing the sale of lots at the county seat, located on land which had in part been donated to the county. No one was directed by the order to conduct the sale, but a report of sales was after-wards made to the court by the chief justice of the county and entered on the minutes, showing the sale of the lot involved in this suit. An order was thereupon entered, authorizing the chief justice to “take notes” from, purchasers and “give bonds.” In 1855 an order was entered, requiring the same chief justice to make deeds to all persons owning lots at the county . site, who had complied with the terms of sale. In a suit begun in 1883. involving the title to a town lot at the county seat, sold by that chief justice in 1853, his deed was produced to one who; it was shown, paid the purchase money, but the testimony tended to show that it was paid after the deed was executed. Held:</p> <p>(1) The sale by the chief justice, in connection with the other facts stated, passed title, though no order was produced from the minutes of the comb authorizing him to sell.</p> <p>. (3) Title would pass even though the provisions of art. 1053, Pasch. Dig., were ordinarily held to be mandatory.</p> <p>(3) If necessary to sustain the title, under the facts above stated, after so great a lapse of timé, it should be presumed that the proper order to sell issued to the chief justice.</p> <p>(4) The recognition of the power of the chief justice, shown by the acts of the county court, would preclude the county from questioning the title of a purchaser holding under his deed.</p> <p>3. Trespass to try title — County seat — Judicial notice.— Though a court may judicially know that a particular town is the county seat of a county, yet in trespass to try title to a lot in such town the plaintiff cannot recover by simply showing title derived from the state, in the county, to land covered by a