Simmons v. Spratt

Citations

• 20 Fla. 495

Syllabus

<p>1. Tlxe general rule is that if a deed purport to have been executed under a power, either of a public or private character, or by the officer of a court under a, decree, and it is sought to use the deed in evidence, the power should be shown, and in case of deed under a decree the party offering the deed should introduce a transcript of the record of the decree.</p> <p>2. Where, however, such deeds purporting to be executed by executors under the powers of a will and orders of the probate court, and by a master in chancery under a decree in chancery are offered and placed in evidence without objection in the Circuit court, it is too late to object in the Appellate Court that neither the will, the order, nor the decree authorizing the sale or the disposition made by the deed was introduced.</p> <p>3. Independent of the statute (MoO. Dig., 515) prescribing how official papers or certified copies thereof may be used in evidence, the rule is that every document of a public nature, which there would be an inconvenience in removing and which the party has a right to inspect, may be proved by a duly authenticated copy. The official character of the record, however, must be shown. Where a paper is proposed to be introduced as a copy of a public survey by a public officer authorized to make it, it is necessary to show something more than that such a survey, purporting to have been made by a person not shown or purporting to be a public officer, was simply copied from the original found in a public office.</p> <p>4. Where the courses and distances in a deed do not cover the quantity of land called for and are therefore uncertain as boundaries, and there are other boundaries given in the deed by adjoining tracts which are ascertained and sufficiently established, the lines will be extended to them where such a course is consistent with the manifest intention of the.parties. Ilogans vs. Carruth, 19 Fla., 84, cited and followed.</p> <p>5. An adverse possession of land under