Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/238/119.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 11:13:41+00:00

Document:
[238 U.S. 119, 120] Messrs. David L. Withington, W. A. Greenwell, William R. Castle, and Alfred L. Castle for appellant.
[238 U.S. 119, 122] Messrs. Lyle A. Dickey, E. M. Watson, and Mrs. Mary H. Atcherley, in propria persona, for appellees.
Appeal to review a decree of the supreme court of Hawaii which reversed a decree of the circuit judge of the first judicial circuit, enjoining the prosecution of an action of ejectment brought by Mary H. Atcherely, one of the appellees, against appellant for the recovery of certain described lands, decreeing that appellant had the equitable title to the lands, and that appellees, including Dickey and Watson, who were made parties pending the suit, held the naked legal title thereto as tenants in common, one half thereof by Mary H. Atcherley and one quarter thereof by each of the other appellees, as trustees of appellant. The decree required that the appellees execute a conveyance of such title to appellant.
The bill alleges that one David Kalakaua, under and through whom the appellant company (designated hereinafter as complainant) claims, on or about December 29, 1856, litigated his title with the following parties, under whom defendant Atcherley claims title, to wit: Kinimaka, Pai, his wife, and their children, in the supreme court of the Hawaiian Islands, in equity, alleging that Kinimaka held title to the lands in trust and as guardian [238 U.S. 119, 125] of Kalakaua, and not otherwise, and praying that he, Kinimaka, be declared trustee of the lands for Kalakaua, and be decreed to convey the same in fee to Kalakaua; that summons was duly issued and served on Kinimaka, who, before filing answer, died, leaving a will devising the lands to his children, whom he left surviving him, and his widow, Pai; that these facts were suggested to the court, and it was prayed that the widow and children be made parties to the suit, and a guardian ad litem be appointed for the children, it being alleged that they became trustees of the property in the same manner and under the same trust as Kinimaka.
That subsequently (March 8, 1858) Kalakaua filed a petition for administration upon the estate of one Kaniu, deceased, under whom he claimed title to the lands, and for the appointment of a guardian ad litem for the minor children of Kinimaka. That upon the filing of such petition George E. Beckwith, administrator of the estate of Kinimaka, was appointed guardian ad litem of the minor children of Kinimaka, and notice was served on him as such administrator and guardian, and upon Pai to show cause why letters of administration might not issue to Kalakaua upon the estate of Kaniu, deceased.
That upon proceedings being had a decree was rendered adjudging Kalakaua to be the devisee of Kaniu, and directing letters to be issued to him.
That the successors in title of Kalakaua (the conveyances being set out) had retained and had been in the same kind of possession and exercised the same disposition [238 U.S. 119, 127] as he. That such possession in Kalakaua and his successors was known to the children of Kinimaka; that they attained their majority respectively in 1867, 1871, and 1877, and at no time did they or any of them assert any claim to the land or deny the rights of Kalakaua or his successors, but acquiesced in his and their possession.
The manner by which defendants obtained the title they assert was set out, and it was alleged that owing to the failure of Armstrong to obey the decree of the court and convey the interest of the children of Kinamaka, as ordered by the court, complainant's required chain of title was incomplete, and that the action in ejectment of Mary H. Atcherley, one of the defendants, sought 'to take unconscionable advantage of the above- mentioned technical error in the chain of title.' A cloud upon the title of complainant was asserted hence to follow, and that it would be inequitable to permit her to prosecute her action of ejectment, and that as naked trustee of the title she should be required to convey it to appellant.
Upon the filing of the mandate of the supreme court in the court below, Mary H. Atcherley filed an answer in which she admitted many of the allegations of the bill, denied some-among others, the undisturbed possession of the land in Kalakaua and his successors, as alleged, and the inferences from it-asserted the validity of her title, and the staleness of complainant's demand, it having been 'brought forty-three years, or more than four times the term of the statute of limitations, since the alleged date of the alleged decree ordering Richard Armstrong to give a conveyance.' That to enforce a conveyance from her without giving her an opportunity to be heard upon the matters set forth in the bill would deprive her of property without due process of law, contrary to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Since the filing of the answer the complainant Kapiolani [238 U.S. 119, 130] Estate, Limited, has parted with all of its estate in the land by a deed of a small portion to certain named parties and the balance, with covenants of warranty, to Lewers and Cooke, Limited, a Hawaiian corporation.
It was decreed that (1) the allegations of the bill and replication of complainant were true. (2) The defendants [238 U.S. 119, 131] and each of them were estopped from litigating against or in opposition to the claim of complainant. (3) The defendants held the legal title to the land as tenants in common, one half by Mary Atcherley and one fourth by each of the other defendants. (4) Such title and titles were held by the defendants respectively as trustees for complainant, and that each of them should be decreed to execute conveyance thereof to complainant, all and singular, the matters appertaining to the title having theretofore been litigated between the predecessors in title of the complainant and defendants respectively, and that the same were res judicata. (5) Defendants should be permanently enjoined from further prosecuting that certain action in ejectment then pending on the law side of the court, wherein Mary H. Atcherley was plaintiff and complainant was defendant.
A conveyance was decreed to be made accordingly, and in case of default after thirty days the clerk of the court as its commissioner should make such deed. Further prosecution of the action in ejectment was enjoined.
'Notwithstanding the statement made in the Lewers & Cooke Case (19 Haw. 48) that there had been no reversal of the facts found by the court of land registration, the fact found by that court that Kinimaka 'was the natural guardian of the minor' was not included in the findings of fact certified up by this court on the appeal to the United States Supreme Court. And the fact that the guardianship relation existed, vitally important though it was, seems to have received scant consideration in that case. That Kinimaka was the testamentary guardian of [238 U.S. 119, 132] Kalakaua's property seems to be beyond the range of dispute at this time. If the relation existed in fact a question as to the regularity of the appointment would not prevent the assertion of any rights the ward would otherwise have against the guardian. 'It is not essential that a legal guardianship should exist; the doctrine (constructive fraud) applies wherever the relation subsists in fact.' 2 Pom. Eq. Jur. 961.
'The question now presented is whether a minor on coming of age could obtain relief in equity against a guardian who had, in fraud of his ward, presented a claim and obtained in his own name an award from the Land Commission of title to the minor's land. This question was neither involved nor discussed in any of those cases.
The character of the awards of the Land Commission was considered and described and their proper relation to the questions and rights of the parties in the case; and this was said: 'If the decree in Kalakaua v. Pai and Armstrong was right it ought to be enforced. If the decision in the Lewers & Cooke Case was correct the present bill should be dismissed, but if it was wrong, in justice to the appellee, it ought not to be followed if it can be avoided.
'Being of the opinion that this court was wrong in the conclusion reached in the Lewers & Cooke Case, and that the decree of 1858 was not 'erroneous in a fundamental principle,' and, for the reasons stated in the former opinion in the case at bar, should not be reopened, we should feel inclined to depart from the ruling made in the Lewers & Cooke Case were we not bound by it because of its having been affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
We have been at pains to recite the pleadings in the case, the steps in the litigation they detail, and the ruling and comments of the supreme court in order to bring the factors of judgment under review in proper connection [238 U.S. 119, 134] and to estimate the constraint the court deemed that it was under to follow the decision of this court in the Lewers & Cooke Case, and whether the court was justified in its view of that case.
The case at bar easily resolves itself into a few simple facts and principles which may be summarized from the pleadings and findings of fact. Kaniu, whose adopted son Kalakaua was, on the day of her death, by oral will and according to the custom of the country, appointed him her heir and left him all of her property. Kinimaka was Kalakaua's guardian, and, at a session of the Board of Land Commissioners, procured the land to be awarded to himself. Then followed litigation-commenced by Kalakaua, to declare Kinimaka his trustee of the title-which continued after the latter's death against his children, properly represented, and his widow, which resulted in the decree (November 2, 1858) establishing Kalakaua's title to the land.
Pending the suit the complainant transferred its interest by warranty deed to Lewers & Cooke, Limited. The latter instituted suit in the court of land registration to register its title, and it was decreed by that court that it had a good title which was entitled to be registered. The [238 U.S. 119, 135] decree was reversed by the supreme court of Hawaii, and subsequently this court affirmed the judgment of the supreme court.
The determining proposition in the case (Lewers & Cooke Case) was that the award of the Land Commission was 'conclusive against every form of attack' except by appeal by a party who had presented his claims to the board. The court considered it immaterial from whom Kinimaka received the lands, or whether he was guilty of actual fraud or had an honest belief in his title. And it was said: 'The objection to the decree of 1858 appears to go to the jurisdiction of the court over the subjectmatter, for the Land Commission's award was the final decision of a court of record which was the only court of competent jurisdiction to decide claims to land accruing prior to its establishment, and its decision could not be attacked except by appeal provided by law.' But the court further said that even if the objection did not go to the jurisdiction of the court, the result would be the same because of the finality of the Land Commission's award. 18 Haw. 625, 638, 639. See also 19 Haw. 47, 334.
We have given excerpts from the opinion of the court showing the grounds of its action. It will be observed that the court frankly declared that it had fallen into error in the Lewers & Cooke Case by deciding that the equity suit in which the decree of 1858 in favor of Kalakaua was rendered was an attack on the award of the Land Commission, and that the decree amounted to a setting aside of the award, but felt that it was its duty to adhere to the decision as it had been affirmed by this court, and, explaining [238 U.S. 119, 136] our affirmance, said that the 'vitally important' fact that Kinimaka 'was the natural guardian of the minor [Kalakaua] was not included in the findings of fact certified up.' And the court (supreme court of Hawaii) declared: 'That Kinimaka was the testamentary guardian of Kalakaua's property seems to be beyond the range of dispute at this time.' This relationship necessarily was the important fact. Without it Kalakaua had no claim of title; with it his right and the right of complainant as his successor are established and the decree of 1858, establishing his title, was correct and the decree in the Lewers & Cooke Case erroneous.
This relationship has since been cleared up and given definite obligations and duties, and even in 1846, under the law of the islands a guardian could not, through the instrumentality of an award of the Land Commission, obtain a title to the property of his ward which was immune from subsequent attack, and the wrong of it be without redress. The fact of guardianship being established, and such being its legal consequences under the law of Hawaii, according to the latest decision of the supreme court of Hawaii, it would be going far to say that a decision was intended to be made against it by the comment which we have mentioned or by the other comments in the opinion.
'In the suit of Lewers & Cooke, Limited, referred to in [238 U.S. 119, 138] these findings, C. W. Ashford, then vice president of Kapiolani Estate, Limited, and now its counsel in this case, appeared at the trial in the court of land registration and assisted counsel for Lewers & Cooke, Limited, in the conduct of the case by examining three witnesses, and did this at the request of John F. Colburn, who was the treasurer of Kapiolani Estate, Limited, and the officer of Kapiolani Estate, Limited, who, in the regular course of business, employed attorneys for it. Said John F. Colburn was a witness on behalf of Lewers & Cooke, Limited, at that trial.
In passing on the contention the supreme court of Hawaii said: 'Counsel for appellants [appellees here] contend that under the decree in the Lewers & Cooke Case the whole matter is res judicata. But as the appellee [appellant here] was not a party to that case and is not a privy of Lewers & Cooke, Limited, the ground is untenable.' As to the last proposition, that is, that complainant was not a privy of Lewers & Cooke, Limited, the view of the court seems to be sustained by Wood v. Davis, 7 Cranch. 271, 3 L. ed. 339, and Cadwallader v. Harris, 76 Ill. 370. The first proposition is one of fact. There was a distinct issue upon the fact, and the conclusion of the court was [238 U.S. 119, 139] virtually a decision upon the issue that the acts described were not authorized by the complainant corporation, but were individual. And we may say it is disputable besides if they constituted an appearance of the complainant. Schroeder v. Lahrman, 26 Minn. 87, 1 N. W. 801.
The principle invoked by defendants is that one who warrants a title is concluded by a judgment against the title in a suit brought against his grantee, even when the title is aggressively used. Andrews v. Denison, 16 N. H. 469, 43 Am. Dec. 565. But in favor of whom and under what conditions? In favor of the grantee undoubtedly when he brings suit on his covenant against his vendor. But will it be available in favor of the successful assailant of the title? Wood v. Davis and Cadwallader v. Harris, supra, are authority against the proposition.

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