Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/100/55/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:20:52+00:00

Document:
1. A condition in a deed conveying land that intoxicating liquors shall never be manufactured, sold, or otherwise disposed of as a beverage in any place of public resort thereon, and that if this condition be broken by the grantee, his assigns or legal representatives, the deed shall become null and void and the title to the premises revert to the grantor, is not repugnant to the estate granted, nor is it unlawful or against public policy.
2. Upon breach of the condition, the grantor has a right to treat the estate as having reverted, and, under a statute of Colorado, can maintain ejectment without a previous entry or a demand.
3. In such a suit, the grantee is estopped from denying the validity of the title conveyed by the deed whereunder he took possession of the land.
4. When a patent issued by the United States adds to the name of the patentee the word "trustee," without mention of any trust upon which he is to hold the land, such addition does not prevent the legal title from passing by the patentee's conveyance. If a trust be in fact created, it is for the cestui que trust, and no one else, to complain of the nonexecution thereof.
obtains through the states and territories of the United States, corporations created in one state or territory are permitted to carry on any lawful business in another, and to acquire, hold, and transfer property there equally as individuals.
6. When a corporation is authorized by statute to hold real property necessary to enable it to carry on its business, the inquiry whether any particular real property is necessary for that business is a matter between the state and the corporation, which does not concern third parties.
In May, 1873, the plaintiff in the court below, the Colorado Springs Company, sold and conveyed to the defendant, Cowell, two parcels of land, situated in the Town of Colorado Springs, in the then Territory of Colorado. The deed of conveyance stated that the consideration of its execution was $250, and an agreement between the parties that intoxicating liquors should never be manufactured, sold, or otherwise disposed of as a beverage in any place of public resort on the premises. And it was expressly declared that in case this condition was broken by the grantee, his assigns or legal representatives, the deed should become null and void, and the title to the premises conveyed should revert to the grantor, and that the grantee in accepting the deed agreed to this condition. The defendant went into possession of the premises under the deed, and soon afterwards opened a billiard saloon in a building thereon, which became a place of public resort, where he sold and disposed of intoxicating liquors as a beverage. The grantor thereupon brought the present action of ejectment for the possession of the premises, the title to which, it claimed, had reverted to it upon breach of the condition contained in its deed; and it recovered judgment. It does not appear that the company had made any previous entry upon the premises or any demand for their possession.
the plaintiff to maintain the action without previous entry or demand of possession.
The validity of the condition is assailed by the defendant as repugnant to the estate conveyed. His contention is, that as the granting words of the deed purport to transfer the land, and the entire interest of the company therein, he took the property in absolute ownership, with liberty to use it in any lawful manner which he might choose, with such use the condition is inconsistent, and he therefore insists that it is repugnant to the estate granted. But the answer is, that the owner of property has a right to dispose of it with a limited restriction on its use, however much the restriction may affect the value or the nature of the estate. Repugnant conditions are those which tend to the utter subversion of the estate, such as prohibit entirely the alienation or use of the property. Conditions which prohibit its alienation to particular persons or for a limited period, or its subjection to particular uses, are not subversive of the estate: they do not destroy or limit its alienable or inheritable character. Sheppard's Touchstone, 129, 131. The reports are full of cases where conditions imposing restrictions upon the uses to which property conveyed in fee may be subjected have been upheld. In this way, slaughterhouses, soap factories, distilleries, livery stables, tanneries, and machine shops have, in a multitude of instances, been excluded from particular localities, which, thus freed from unpleasant sights, noxious vapors, or disturbing noises, have become desirable as places for residences of families. To hold that conditions for their exclusion from premises conveyed are inoperative would defeat numerous arrangements in our large cities for the health and comfort of whole neighborhoods.
The condition in the deed of the plaintiff against the manufacture or the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage at any place of public resort on the premises was not subversive of the estate conveyed. It left the estate alienable and inheritable, and free to be subjected to other uses. It was not unlawful nor against public policy, but, on the contrary, it was imposed in the interest of public health and morality.
the grant by the Court of Appeals of New York in Plumb v. Tubbs, 41 N.Y. 442. And a similar condition was held by the Supreme Court of Kansas to be a valid condition subsequent, upon the continued observance of which the estate conveyed depended. 14 Kan. 61. See also Doe v. Keeling, 1 Mau. & Sel. 95, and Gray v. Blanchard, 8 Pick. (Mass.) 283.
We have no doubt that the condition in the deed to the defendant here is valid and not repugnant to the estate conveyed. It is a condition subsequent, and upon its breach the company had a right to treat the estate as having reverted to it, and bring ejectment for the premises. A previous entry upon the premises, or a demand for their possession, was not necessary. By statute in Colorado it is sufficient for the plaintiff in ejectment to show a right to the possession of the demanded premises at the commencement of the action as heir, devisee, purchaser, or otherwise. The commencement of the action there stands in lieu of entry and demand of possession. See also Austin v. Cambridgeport Parish, 21 Pick. (Mass.) 215; Cornelius v. Ivins, 2 Dutch. (N.J.) 376; Ruch v. Rock Island, 97 U. S. 693.
The other objections urged to the title of the plaintiff are equally untenable. It seems that its title is derived through mesne conveyances from one Lamborn, to whom, in September, 1870, a patent of the United States was issued embracing the demanded premises. This patent adds to Lamborn's name the word "trustee," without mention of any trust upon which he is to hold the property. It is therefore contended that he must be considered as holding it for some undeclared use of the grantor, and that consequently he could not convey it without the consent or direction of the latter, in this case the government. But the answer to this position is given in the patent itself, by the recital that the land was purchased by the patentee of the government, thus negativing the inference that the latter retained any interest in the property or advanced the purchase money. And besides, if any trust was in fact created, it was for the cestui que trust, and no one else, to complain of the action of the patentee and enforce the trust: it did not prevent the legal title from passing by his conveyance. Perry, Trusts, sec. 334.
that its legislature has made no provision for the formation of similar corporations, or allows corporations to be formed only by general law. Telegraph companies did business in several states before their legislatures had created or authorized the creation of similar corporations; and numerous corporations existing by special charter in one state are now engaged, without question, in business in states where the creation of corporations by special enactment is forbidden.
property, an investigation was permitted into the necessity of such property for the purposes of their incorporation, and the title made to rest upon the proof of that necessity. Natoma Water & Mining Co. v. Clarkin, 14 Cal. 552.
But there is another and general answer to this objection. The defendant, as already stated, went into possession of the premises in controversy under the deed of the plaintiff. He took his title from the company, with a condition that if he manufactured or sold intoxicating liquors, to be used as a beverage, at any place of public resort on the premises, the title should revert to his grantor; and he is therefore estopped, when sued by the grantor for the premises, upon breach of the condition, from denying the corporate existence of the plaintiff, or the validity of the title conveyed by its deed. Upon obvious principles, the cannot be permitted to retain the property which he received upon condition that it should be restored to his grantor on a certain contingency, by denying, when the contingency has happened, that his grantor ever had any right to it. Gill v. Fauntleroy, 8 B.Mon. (Ky.) 185; Miller v. Shackleford, 4 Dana (Ky.), 287, 288; Fitch v. Baldwin, 17 Johns. (N.Y.) 161.

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