Salado College v. Davis

Citations

• 47 Tex. 131

Syllabus

<p>1. Measure of damages—Attorneys’ fees.—In an action for unlawfully overflowing the lauds of plaintiff', in which defendant pleaded that the suit was wrongfully instituted, and brought for the purpose of vexing the defendant, his attorneys’ fees form no part of his right to damages, upon the jury finding against the plaintiff.</p> <p>2. Same.—Mor do losses resulting from a failure in defendant to sell his land, occasioned by the unsuccessful suit to abate his use of water privileges, form any part of the damages for which relief is given.</p> <p>3. Same.—An act which does not amount to a legal injury, cannot be actionable because it is done with a bad intent.</p> <p>4. Declarations and acts of trustees, agents, &c.—In an action for trespass upon the grounds of a corporation, the acts and declarations of the individual members of the board of trustees, not authorized by such board, are inadmissible against the plaintiff.</p> <p>5. Same.—So declarations limiting a deed executed by the president of a board of trustees, made at the time of its execution, and limiting the meaning of the words of the deed.</p> <p>6. Construction of contract.—The sale of land on a stream, with mill privileges, with a prohibition to raise the water beyond a stipulated point, is not a guaranty of any quantity of water or of sufficiency of water power for any particular use in machinery. The right to use the stream for mill purposes, is restricted by the limit to the height of the dam, implied in the inhibition against the overflow beyond the specified point.</p> <p>7. Overflow.—It was the duty of the court to instruct the jury as to the meaning of the word overflow, in the suit involving the meaning of a contract prohibiting the overflow of certain springs; and if the waters of the springs, in the place where they issued from the ground at the date of the deed, containing the inhibition, were flowed over, or impeded by the higher waters of the dam, this was a violation of the restriction.<