Mills v. Brown

Citations

• 69 Tex. 244
• 6 S.W. 612
• 1887 Tex. LEXIS 812

Syllabus

<p>1» Homestead. — To obtain one hundred and sixty acres of land as a preemption, it must be settled upon and occupied by a family. When the family has for its head a husband and wife, the right to the land'results from their joint settlement and labor, and is community property.</p> <p>2. Same — Pre-emption.—The fact that settlement upon public land was made by a woman and her husband, after the wife had, from her own means, and before marriage, paid the surveyor’s fees, will not deprive the property of its community character, when the husband and wife resided on the land in compliance with law until the title issued.</p> <p>3. Same. — The law does not contemplate that a survey shall be made of ,apre emption, or an application therefor filed, until the pre-emptors have-actually settled on the land. The payment of the surveying fees and the, survey must enure to the benefit of the family. The issuance of patent! to the heirs of one spouse can not defeat the community rights of the-' other.</p>