Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-06

The earlier statutes of limitation eX-
empted the life from their operation be-
cause of her disability at common law to as
sert her rights by suit; and the Texas
statute adopts this exemption at the same
time thatit removes almost in full the disa-
bilities upon which it was founded, and by
virtue Of which it was justified. full
right of ownership. use and enjoyment,
without the correlative limitations and con-
ditions properly incident to such right,
gives an unbalanced state of law; the two
sides OF the equation are not equal. The
Texas statutes of limitation could
properly have been made ap-
plicable to married women as
to other persons; and in justice to, this
large, unsettled domain Of hers, these
statutes, or the largest one of them. should
have been made operative in favor Of re-
corded titles without the necessity of ac-
tual possession to set the statute in motion;
or the equitable limitation of state de-
mand should have been made effective by
statute against all claims, legal as well as
equitable, not asserted within ten years by
suit, or maintained by regular payment of
taxes or other substantial method. When
such broad rights of ownership and action
were conferred upon married women, the
courts should have been invested with full
power to deal with them upon the intrinsic
equity and merits of each transaction, Just
as with other persons.
The result of failure to do any of these
things can be partly illustrated by a case that
came in fact before the writer only a week
since. A man wishing to purchase small
improved farm, had the title examined.
1t was found that one link in the chain was
a deed by married woman whose separate
property the land was at its date. The
officer had omitted one of tae requisites Of
the privy acknowledgement, and the woman
had died soon thereafter, before actual po-
session of the land had been taken py the
purchaser, leaving as her heirs two daugh-
tiers, both then married. The surprise of
the farmer who had supposed he owned the
land. at learning that his title to his home,
fully paid for and occupied by him for more
than Ten years, was absolutely void, be-
came yet greater as he learned further that
his case was one for which the laws ard
courts OF Texas afforded no remedy what
ever; and that his election was between
abandoning the place, or continuing to oc-
cupy it subject to the legal right of the
heirs to take it from him whenever they
should call on the courts to deliver it into
their hands. a system of uriSprudence
that affords to citizen having a perfect
equity no redress against an injury grow
ing out of mere technicalities which the law
itself has imposed, it is pre-eminent in at
least one respect-that is perhaps without
q parallel.
Titles are sometimes beclouded by defects
value, while no one IS yet asserting any
adverse claim to the lands, and it can not
be known who, if anyone, will seek to take
advantage of the defects. In several states
the statutes make special provision for
clearing titles, prescribing short forms Of
procedure, lessening the costs, and giving
full and absolute effect to the Judgment in
such cases. Texas has no such statute, and
a suit to clear title under tho general equity
power Of the courts, aside from its cost,
would prove unavaifng as against the
statutory disabilities of coverture and mi
nority that might exist in favor Of the per-
sons adversely interested Much of the
evil resulting from technical defects in the
registration of titles, especially these
in the West, could be cured by
proper validating acts that are
conspicuous for their absence. The
effectiveness of the law seems to be in the
matter OF complication rather than Of sim
plication. A certain doctor, when unable
to diagnose a case and prescribe remedy,
made it rule TO at once throw the patient
into fits, because, as he said, he was "hel
on fits" We have proceeded admirably on
this line of practice in Texas-except that
we have failed on the fits.
Against our legislature, per Sc, there is
no word of complaint to be uttered. The
ernment and is one of structural anatomy.
Our young empire passed the s. and the
ninety days legislative limits twenty years
ago. For the patriotic gentleman who
leave their fresides and business and
biennially assemble at Austin in legislative
capacity, there to spend and be spent for
their country in a forlorn effort to accom-
plish impoSsibilities, there can be only the
admiration that is due 10 unfaltering hero
ism and unselfsh sacrifice. To have required
of them the erection with their own hands
and within three months of the present
state capitol bnilding, would have been
something nearer possibility. than the ac-
complishment, within that time, of the
needed legislation for great commonwealth
whose diversified and complicated affairs
confront them in multitude like the cohorts
of the Assyrian. They are not able TO
draw out LeViathan with q hook; nor to |
run a Bank of England on a capital of |
$500; nor to level the mighty walls of |
Jericho with the blowing ofram's horns, |
Jehovah Jireh not lending his omnipotent |
aid. Ere they can become acquainted with |
each other and compare notes and read |
over Cushing's parliamentary manuel, they
are overwhelmed with flood OF 500 bills, |
each one properly requiring at least halt a