Case Name: R. Underwood et ux v. Reuben Sims
Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: South Carolina
Decision Date: 1831-01
Citations: 2 Bail. 81
Docket Number: 
Parties: R. Underwood et ux v. Reuben Sims.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Carolina Law Reports
Volume: 18
Pages: 81–82

Head Matter:
R. Underwood et ux v. Reuben Sims.
In trespass to try titles, the defendant, by a plea filed conformably to the rule of Court, set up a title in himself to the whole of the land claimed by the plaintiffs, as set out and described in their declaration ; and at the trial he established his title to all of the land, except one quarter of an acre, on which he had never trespassed, and to which he had never pretended any claim : Held, that the plea of the defendant did not dispense with the necessity of proving a trespass on the soil of the plaintiffs before action brought.

Opinion:
And per curiam.
The rule of Court has been declared obsojete> Judge v. Cloud, 4 M'C. 235, and the defendant's plea was tantamount to the general issue. It is not as in trespass : Here the gist of the action is the title : but still it has been held over and over again, that the plaintiff must prove an actual trespass by the defendant, in order to enable him to maintain the action. 2 Bay, 421. 1 M'C. 466.
Motion for new trial, on the .ground of misdirection by Mr. Justice O'Neall, at Union, Spring Term, 1830, refused.