Sheppard v. Harrison

Citations

• 54 Tex. 91
• 1880 Tex. LEXIS 130

Syllabus

<p>1. G-bant—Construction.—In construing a grant emanating from competent authority prior to 1836, all the instruments which were referred to and embraced by the commissioners in the expediente formed parts of the title, and may be referred to for the correction of errors and mistakes made in parts of it. The legal effect of the expediente must be determined from considering the whole, and not a portion of it.</p> <p>2. Same.—In construing a grant emanating under the laws of Mexico, when, from the application to the alcalde, the consent given by the empresarios for the survey, the order for survey and the survey, it appears for whom the grant was intended, the omission of the grantee’s name from the final act of the alcalde will not vitiate the grant, when by the recitals, and references to the preceding instruments of the expediente, it clearly appears for whom it was intended.</p> <p>3. Same.—When such an instrument was recognized as a valid grant by the judicial officers of the government contemporaneous with its date, as well as by those of the government which succeeded, its validity cannot be questioned at the instance of a stranger on account of the mere clerical omission of the name of the grantee in the final act of possession, when the other portions of the expediente plainly show for whom the grant was intended.</p> <p>4. Protocol—Evidence.—A certified copy of the protocol of a grant on deposit in the general land office is sufficient to establish title in the grantee, without accounting for the testimonio or showing that one had in fact issued.</p> <p>5. Presumption of grant.— See opinion for facts sufficient to authorize the presumption of a grant.</p>