Case Name: BARKER et al. v. HAZEL-FAIN OIL CO. et al.
Court: Texas Courts of Civil Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1920-01-10
Citations: 219 S.W. 874
Docket Number: No. 9334
Parties: BARKER et al. v. HAZEL-FAIN OIL CO. et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter
Volume: 219
Pages: 874–881

Head Matter:
BARKER et al. v. HAZEL-FAIN OIL CO. et al.
(No. 9334.)
(Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Ft. Worth.
Jan. 10, 1920.
On Motion for Rehearing, March 13, 1920.
Dissenting Opinion March 13, 1920.)
1. Religious societies <&wkey;18 — Deed of land FOE CEMETERY TO CHUECH TRUSTEES DID NOT LIMIT TITLE BUT MERELY USE.
Where the owners of land deeded it to trustees of a church for a public cemetery, to have and to hold to themselves, successors, heirs and assigns forever, the deed vested in the church fee-simple title to the land, and the parenthetical expression in the grant that it was for a cemetery was merely limitation of the use to which the land was to be put, and not a limitation of the title, so that it could not be said that under no circumstance did the trustees or church have power to sell.
2. Religious societies <&wkey;18 — Dedication OF LAND FOE CEMETERY DID NOT DESTROY POWER! OF CHURCH TO SELL.
The dedication as a place of sepulcher of land deeded io church trustees did not entirely destroy the power.of the church or its trustees to sell, which power was merely restricted or held in abeyance until the happening of circumstances rendering it necessary or proper to sell, ¡as abandonment of the cemetery or its condemnation.
3. Cemeteries <&wkey;20 — Dedication &wkey;>16(l)— Persons having dead buried in cemetery held entitled to- restrain drilling FOR OIL.
Where owners of land deeded to church trustees for a cemetery, and thereafter members of the church and public were interred in the land, there was a dedication to cemetery purposes, and so long as it continued fit for such purposes it was the duty of the church through its trustees to execute the trust and maintain the cemetery for the benefit of the public, and persons having their dead buried therein had the right to invoke the aid of equity to restrain destruction, spoliation, or disturbance of the graves, as by an oil company’s drilling a well under conveyance from the trustees.
4. Cemeteries <&wkey;13 — Trustees without RIGHT TO CONVEY CEMETERY LAND FOR STOCK OF OIL COMPANY, NOT MONEY.
Trustees of a church, grantees in a deed of land for cemetery purposes, vested with fee-simple title, and authorized by their governing (authority to sell part of the land, had no authority to convey the land to an oil company in consideration of one-eighth of its capital stock instead of money.
On Motion for Rehearing.
5. Cemeteries <&wkey;20 — Right of persons accepting DEDICATION TO PROTECT GRAVES OF DEAD AGAINST DRILLING OF OIL WELL.
Whore owners of land deeded it to trustees of a church for cemetery purposes, and the dedication was completed by use of the land as a ■cemetery, persons having their dead buried therein could protect the graves, not only as against the grantor and trustees of the church, but also as against an oil company holding the deed of the trustees, for which it had paid cash consideration before proceeding to drill an oil well on the land.
6. CEMETERIES <&wkey;l&wkey;NO LOSS OE STATUS BECAUSE FURTHER INTERMENTS HAVE CEASED OR BECOME IMPOSSIBLE.
A cemetery does not lose its character as such because further interments in it have ceased or become impossible, but remains subject to the use so long as the bodies remain buried, or until they are moved by public authority, friends, or relatives. '
7. Cemeteries &wkey;^14 — Spraying from adjacent OIL WELLS NOT TERMINATING USE.
The fact that a cemetery is subject to spray of oil from adjacent wells does not necessarily render it unfit for cemetery purposes, and if the spraying is to such an extent as to constitute a nuisance, it is a wrong of which persons having relatives and other dead buried there can doubtless complain, and does not justify an oil company, under conveyance from the trustees of the church holding title to the cemetery, in drilling for oil within its confines.
Buck, J., dissenting.
Appeal from District Court, Eastland County ; E. A. Hill, Special Judge.
Suit for injunction by R. E. Barker and others against the Hazel-Fain Oil Company and others. From judgment for defendants, plaintiffs appeal.
Reversed, temporary injunction reinstated, and cause remanded.
Turner & Seaberry, of Eastland, for appellants.
Conner & McRae, of Eastland, and Phillips & Trammell, of Ft. Worth, for appellees.

Opinion:
CONNER, C. J.
This is an appeal from an order dissolving a temporary writ of injunction theretofore issued upon an application of appellants.
Appellants alleged, in substance, that by deed of gift, followed by use, the M. E. Church, South, of Pleasant Grove, Eastland county, had dedicated and used as a public cemetery a parcel of land 100 yards square in the northeast corner of the northeast one-fourth of section 3, block 4, of the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company's survey of Eastland county, and that they, appellants, were beneficiaries of the designated use, having the bodies of deceased relatives buried in said cemetery. Appellants further alleged that the defendants, claiming right to so do by virtue of an invalid deed from the trustees of said church, had entered upon said cemetery, and were now threatening to erect derricks, dig slush pits, etc., for the drilling of an oil well which, it was averred, would inevitably result, if allowed to proceed, in discordant noises, obnoxious odors, and desecration of graves by spraying oil, etc., to the damage and distress of the applicants.
The defendants, appellees here, justified under the deed of the trustees of the church referred to in the pleadings of the applicants for the writ, further allege that the part of the cemetery conveyed had become unfit as a burial place, and that the threatened operations complained of could be so carried on as not to disturb or injure existing gravés beyond what had already been done by operations and flowing oil wells in the immediate vicinity.
We find in the record no written conclusions of the trial judge, but evidence was heard on the hearing of the motion to vacate the temporary writ, and therefrom, and from the contentions of counsel in the presentation of the case here, we infer that the trial court entertained 'the view presented by the defendants' answer to the effect that the evidence justified the conclusion that the part of the cemetery conveyed to the appellee the I-Iazel-Fain Oil Company was no longer suitable as a place for burial; that the deed from the original grantors to the trustees of the church conveyed a fee-simple title,' and that hence the deed of the trustees to the appellee oil company conveyed title authorizing the. drilling and operation of the threatened oil well-, which, the court probably further concluded, would not prejudicially affect graves already situated.
The undisputed facts show that on- the 7th day of March, 1906, one B. M. McClesky, joined by his wife, I. E. McClesky, executed and delivered a deed to T. Y. Butler, Allen Morton, and T. J. Cornelius as trustees of the Methodist Eipiscopal Church, South, of Pleasant Grove to the plat of ground hereinbefore referred to. The deed recites that it was in "consideration of the sum of one dollar to us in hand paid" by the trustee named. The deed further recites that for the consideration stated the grantors "have granted, sold and conveyed and by these presents do grant, sell and convey unto the said trustees and their successors in office for the use and benefit of said church, as a public cemetery," the tract of land mentioned. After description of the land conveyed follows the habendum clause in the following words:.
"To have and to hold above-described premises, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in any wise belonging unto the said trustees of said church and their successors and their heirs and assigns for; ever."
The habendum clause was followed by the following warranty:
"And we do hereby bind ourselves and our heirs, executors and administrators to warrant and forever defend, all and singular, the said premises unto the said trustees and their successors in office and their heirs and assigns, against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same, or any part thereof."
Tlie undisputed evidence further shows that after the execution and delivery of the deed above mentioned by the MeCleskys. the plat bf ground described therein was .accepted, and thereafter used as a burial ground for members of the church and of deceased persons from among the public generally, and that such use continued until the institution of the present proceeding, with the result that something like two-thirds of the eastern part of the cemetery is occupied with graves, among which is the final resting place of the fathers, mothers, and grandfathers of some of the plaintiffs in1 this suit;- tha*t upon the west one-third of the cemetery deeded to the .oil company, as will be hereinafter shown, no burials have taken place, and there is testimony to the effect that that part of the cemetery has not been cleared of timber and underbrush', and some of the witnesses testified that it was not suitable as a burial ground. The proof also shows that some four, or five, or six producing :oil wells have been drilled by owners and lessees, not parties to this proceeding, around the cemetery in question, and that as a result of these producing wells the graveyard generally has been sprayed with oil, which has spread over the graves and tombstones, except when covered With some protecting material.
It was further shown that on the 29th day' of August, 1919, T. Y. Butler, E. Roper, B, •F. Dempsey, J.. S. Lemond, and B. M. Smith, as trustees of the M. -E. Church, South, of Pleasant Grove, executed and delivered to the Hazel-Fain Oil Company a deed to the strip of land in controversy, to wit, the west one-third of the cemetery plat.
We cannot agree with what seems to be appellants' principal contention to the effect that under the deed from the MeCleskys to the trustees of the church no sale by the trustees could be made. This deed we think, in effect, vested in the church the fee-simple title to the burial lot free from any right of reversion to the grantors. The parenthetical expression in the grant, "for a cemetery," is a limitation of the use to which the lot was to be put, and not a, limitation of the title. This being true, it cannot be said that under no set of circumstances would the church have the power to sell. Such a power is an ordinary incident of a fee-simple title, and inherent in a fee-simple owner, unless restricted by the terms of the grant. The limitation noted in the grant under consideration of the use to which the land was to be put, followed as it was by the burial of numerous deceased members of the church and bf the public, it is true amounted to a dedication of the land as a place of sepulcher, but' such dedication would not entirely destroy the power to sell. Such power was merely restricted or held in abeyance until the happening of such circumstances as rendered it necessary or proper to sell, as if, for instance, the cemetery should be wholly abandoned, or suddenly become unfit as a burial place, or be condemned and all bodies removed by Legislature or municipal enactment on the ground of its being a public nuisance. In such cases, the potential power to sell, though long dormant, would arise free from all restrictions, and could be made to assume its active quality by the holder of the legal title: See Olcott v. Gabert, 86 Tex. 121, 23 S. W. 985; Long v. Moore, 19 Tex. Civ. App. 363, 48 S. W. 43; McLeod v. McCall, 180 S. W. 293; Downen v. Rayburn, 214 Ill. 342, 73 N. E. 364; Andrews v. Sercombe, 82 Or. 616, 162 Pac. 836; 11 Corpus Juris, p. 57, § 18. We therefore conclude that the form of the deed of the MeCleskys to the church of itself is not a sufficient reason for disregarding the deed to the appellee oil company.
But we think it must be assumed, without extended discussion or citation of authority, that the deed of the MeCleskys, followed as it was by the actual use of the land as a cemetery, amounted to a dedication of the land to that purpose, and that so long as so used, and so long as fitted for the purpose, it was the duty of the church through its trustees to execute the trust and maintain the cemetery for the benefit of the public, and that any person, as plaintiffs, having loved ones buried therein would have the right to complain and to invoke the aid of a court of equity to restrain destruction, or spoliation, or disturbance of the graves. See 11 Corpus Juris, p. 64, § 35; Wormley v. Wormley, 207 Ill. 411, 69 N. E. 865, 3. L. R. A. (N. S.) 481, and notes; Davidson v. Reed, 111 Ill. 167, 53 Am. Rep. 613; 5 R. C. L. 246, § 11, and cases cited in notes 6 and 7.
When, therefore, appellants established by their evidence, as they did, the existence of the trust or charitable use and their beneficial interest therein, they made out a prima facie case, and it then rested upon the defendants • to defeat the prima facie case so made by justifying the threatened intrusion upon 'the cemetery grounds. This they attempted to do, as already stated, by proof of the deed from the trustees of the church to the defendant oil company. In the absence of such deed, there is no pretense that the defendants have any right whatever to invade and commit trespasses as they are asserting the right to do. In our judgment, and for a reason not assigned in the briefs, the deed affords no justification for the threatened acts. The deed on its face recites that it was executed in consideration of $20,000 in "stock" of the Hazel-Fain Oil Company, and the proof shows that no other consideration was received.
The presiding elder of the district testified without dispute that—
"All property in our church, in a pastorial charge, is under the absolute control of the quarterly conference, and they can sell or dis pose of it as they see proper. Without the action of the conference, the trustees have not the 'authority to sell the property. They [the trustees] have no authority whatever, any more than any other member of the church, than that authority which is given by the board of conference. It becomes necessary for the trustees to execute conveyances, upon the instructions of the quarterly conference. They have no choice in the matter."
This witness further testified that, having been solicited to do so, he called a quarterly conference of the Pleasant Grove Church, at which seven of the trustees were present, and that five of them signed the conveyance under consideration to the oil company. He further testified that minutes of the quarterly conference mentioned were taken, and froiq those minutes we copy the following, having relevancy to the matter under discussion:
"Resolved that the board of trustees be instructed to sell 36% yards off the west of the block of land described as follows: Beginning at the N. E. corner of the N. E. % of section No. 3 in block No. 4 H. & T. C. Ry. Co. lands in Eastland Co., Texas, certificate No. 26/.1537. The same being the southeast corner of survey No. 4 from which a P. O. marked R. R. bears N. 18 E. 12 vrs. do. 8 inches marked H. C. brs. N. 25 E. 9 vrs. Thence west 100 yards; thence South 100 yards; thence east 100 yards; thence north 100 yards to the beginning. Containing 100x100 yards square of land out of the N. E. corner of the quarter section of land above described.
"The above motion was voted upon and carried unanimously.
* "The following motion was made and seconded:
"Be it resolved .that the whole proceeds of the above described property be used' entirely for the benefit of and the beautifying of the cemetery connected thereto."
R. C. Fain, among other things, testified that:
. "The capital stock of the Hazel-Fain Oil Company is $160,OOO, making the $20,000. we are giving the church equal to one-eighth of the production, and the trustees are getting the one-eighth if there is any production."
He further testified:
"I have not sold any stock at all. It is immaterial whether I sell any or not. I own all the stock except the church stock of $20,000. This deed from these trustees is all the assets this company has at the present— we have other deals under investigation. I plan to buy other property, possibly, whenever I can find something good."
He further testified that he had given to Mr. McClesky, (who signed the original deed to the church) $10,000 in stock, and that he was going to give $10,000 in stock to the pre¡ siding elder who had called the conference, but that nothing had been said about giving Mr. Roper (one of the trustees) any of the stock.
Conceding that circumstances might exist that would,,authorize a sale by the trustees of the church of the strip of land in question off the west-side of the cemetery, we do not think the facts above mentioned authorized the sale in question. In 1 Mechem on Agency, § 895, it is said:
"Mere authority to sell gives an agent no authority to exchange the chattels. for other property, or to take anything else than money in payment for them, though such an authority may, of course, be conferred expressly or be fairly inferred from the language of the power. Such an agent cannot therefore take payments in notes, checks, or other paper." ,
Numerous authorities are cited in' the notes in support of the text. So, in 2 Corpus Juris, p. 599, § 234, in .discussing the powers of an agent, it is said:
"As a general rule, the sale must be for cash only, and, in the absence of special authority, mere authority' to sell does not give the agent authority to sell on credit, and such an agent cannot bind his principal by receiving payment in bonds, notes, or other paper.
"A sale contemplates a price in money, and hence authority to sell confers power to sell for cash, but not. to exchange for other property, 'or for part property and part cash,, unless the terms of the agency clearly empower Jiim to exchange; and the fact that the" agent can make the sale only by accepting .goods in payment does not authorize him to make fhe sale on such' terms."
To -the same effect is the case of Fitzhugh v. Franco-Texas Land Co., 81 Tex. 306, 16 S. W. 1078. In that case the president of. the land company, one Duke, undertook to 'convey 33 -sections of land owned by his - company to others. One' of the notes given by the' purchaser as part of the purchase money was made "collectable" in horses of a certain brand at $30 per head. In discussing the validity of the conveyance, the Supreme Court said:
"The corporation was organized for the purpose of acquiring lands and for selling and conveying the same. It can hardly be held that the power to sell and convey carries with it a power to exchange them for personal property; and certainly not when, as in. this' ease, .the charter does not empower the corporation to acquire and hold such property for.mere purposes of. trade. Is it to be implied then from the facts in evidence in this case that any such authority was intended to be conferred upon Duke? A power to sell conferred by a natural person- does not authorize' the agent to barter the property. Reese v. Medlock, 27 Tex. 129 [84 Am. Dec. 611]; Trudo v. Anderson, 10 Mich. 357, 81 Am. Dec. 795; Organ Co. v. Starkey, 59 N. H. 142; Lumpkin v. Wilson, 5 Heisk. [Tenn.] 555; Mfg. Co. v. Givan, 65 Mo. 89; Victor, etc., Co. v. Huler, 44 Wis. 265; Rogers v. Bass, 46 Tex. 505. It follows, then, that an agent who was authorized merely to sell upon a credit could not take for a deferred payment a written promise which the promisor had the election to discharge in anything but money.' No express authority being shown for Duke to make this particular transaction, and no circumstances appearing from which such authority can be implied, it is clear that the conveyance was without authority, and subject to be canceled, as against all persons claiming under it. The rule is well settled that all persons dealing with a corporation must take notice of the powers conferred upon it by its charter, and that its agents cannot exercise any authority in excess of these powers."
Under the foregoing authorities, it seems certainly clear that the trustees of the Pleasant Grove Church, as such, had no authority to accept in payment for the conveyance of the west onc-third of the cemetery in question stock in the Hazel-Pain Oil Company, nor can any such authority be derived from the order of the conference which we have quoted. The resolution adopted.by the quarterly conference was that the "board of trustees be instructed to sell 36% yards off of the west of the block of land described as follows," etc. The resolution, of course, is the best evidence of the-action of the conference, and nothing is to be found in the resolution authorizing an exchange of the land conveyed for stock or other property. Surely, neither" the Pleasant Grove Church, the beneficiary under the McClesky deed, nor members of the public interested in the maintenance of the cemetery, can be held bound by the deed the trustees in fact executed and delivered to the Hazel-Pain Oil Company. As seen from the evidence quoted, the totál assets of the oil company and the sole basis of value, so far as the record shows, was the land conveyed by the trustees, and for which the church received but one-.eighth of the capitalization. In other words, the transaction, if sustained, amounts to the church furnishing all of the assets and giving seven-eighths thereof to R. C. Pain, the promoter. There is no evidence showing whether R. C. Pain was financially responsible, or that the stock of the oil company had a market value, nor is anything in the record shown giving the Pleasant Grove Church authority to become a stockholder in an oil company and thereby become a member of an oil development association. In brief, and pretermitting a discussion of several other questions presented in the record, we are of the opinion that the deed of the trustees to the oil company was wholly unauthorized and invalid, and that it affords no basis justifying the oil company tí enter upon or otherwise disturb in the manner alleged the rightful possession of the M.' E. Church, South, of Pleasant Grove, or oí the appellants in this case.
It is accordingly ordered that the judgment below be reversed, the temporary injunction originally issued be reinstated, and the cause remanded
(&wkey;For other cases see same topic and' KEY-NUMBER lb all Key-Numbered-Digests and Indexes
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