Case Name: Ellen F. Caples, et al., and Fred P. Cone, et al., as Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State, v. E. P. Taliaferro, et al., as Executors and Trustees under the Last Will and Testament of T. C. Taliaferro, Deceased
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1940-03-08
Citations: 144 Fla. 30
Docket Number: 
Parties: Ellen F. Caples, et al., and Fred P. Cone, et al., as Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State, v. E. P. Taliaferro, et al., as Executors and Trustees under the Last Will and Testament of T. C. Taliaferro, Deceased.
Judges: Whitfield, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur.
Reporter: Florida Reports
Volume: 144
Pages: 30–36

Head Matter:
Ellen F. Caples, et al., and Fred P. Cone, et al., as Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of the State, v. E. P. Taliaferro, et al., as Executors and Trustees under the Last Will and Testament of T. C. Taliaferro, Deceased.
197 So. 872
Order Filed March 8, 1940
George Couper Gibbs, Attorney General, and Marvin C. McIntosh, Assistant Attorney General, for Appellants.
M. B. Withers and Wm. M. Taliaferro, for Appellees.

Opinion:
Terrell, C. J.
This appeal is from a final decree quieting title to certain lands in Manatee County described as follows: "Begin' at Southwest corner of Lot three (3) Section 35, Township 35 South, Range 17 East, thence East along South line of said Lot three (3) 80 rods (said 80 rods extending 30 rods more or less into the West half [Wj4] of the Southwest Quarter [SW)4] of Section Thirty-six [36], Township 35 South, Range 17 East,) thence North 20 rods — thence West 80 rods to Sarasota Bay: — thence South 20 rods to place of beginning — seven acres more or less, in said Lot three (3) and three acres more or less, in West half (Wj4) of Southwest quarter (SWJ4) of Section 36, Township 35 South Range 17 East."
The physical facts are very similar to those involved in Ellen F. Caples, et al., v. E. P. Taliaferro, et al., decided this date. The decree appealed from found that appellees were the owners in fee of said lands, that they extended to and were bounded by the waters of Sarasota Bay and that appellees possessed all the rights of riparian proprietors. The final decree quieted the title of complainants to said lands and held that the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund were without authority to convey the submerged lands in front of the lands so described.
As to complainants being riparian proprietors and as to the authority of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to convey the submerged lands in question, the decree appealed from is reversed on authority of Ellen F. Caples, et al., v. E. P. Taliaferro, et al., decided this date. In other respects, the decree appealed from is affirmed.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part.
Whitfield, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur.
Brown and Thomas, J. J., dissent.