Opinion ID: 112480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Barnwell Islands

Text: These islands were four in number and were named by the Barnwell family, in downstream order, Rabbit Island, Hog Island (referred to as Barnwell Island on some older United States Coast Survey maps), Long Island (referred to as Barnwell Island No. 2 on some maps), and Barnwell Island No. 3 (actually the fourth island and not present when the family named the others). As has been noted, Georgia takes no exception to the Special Master's recommendation that Rabbit Island, although in the Savannah River in 1787, now be adjudged to be in South Carolina. This leaves us with Hog Island, Long Island, and Barnwell Island No. 3. Georgia states that the Barnwell Islands remained as islands in the Savannah River and discernible as such well into the 20th century, when, because of the activity of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, they became affixed to the South Carolina shore. Ga. Exceptions 13. South Carolina opines that the Barnwell Islands area is the most valuable land in the present dispute. It consists of at least 450 acres of high ground only a short distance downstream from the city of Savannah. It is clearly capable of future economic development. Response for South Carolina 1-2. Georgia's argument is essentially this: Long acquiescence in the practical location of an interstate boundary, and possession in accordance therewith, often has been used as an aid in resolving boundary disputes. See, e. g., Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 4 How. 591, 638-639 (1846); Louisiana v. Mississippi, 202 U. S. 1, 53 (1906). Possession and dominion are essential elements of a claim of sovereignty by prescription and acquiescence. Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. 503, 524 (1893). The duration of any purported dominion by South Carolina was judicially terminated by the above-cited Fifth Circuit decision in 1955. In line with that decision, and at all times since, Georgia has exercised dominion, sovereignty, and ownership of the Barnwell Islands. The Corps of Engineers has possessed and occupied Barnwell pursuant to a deed granted by Georgia for a spoilage easement. The doctrine of prescription and acquiescence may not be used aggressively to acquire territory; it may be used only to confirm the current status. In any event, proof adduced by South Carolina falls short of what is required to change the boundary solemnly accepted by the two States in 1787. Georgia further maintains that the State asserting the claim must make a showing of acquiescence by the neighboring State. New Jersey v. Delaware, 291 U. S. 361, 376, 377 (1934). Inaction, in and of itself, is of no great importance; what is legally significant is silence in the face of circumstances that warrant a response. Here, it is said, there is little evidence either of prescription by South Carolina or of actual or constructive notice to Georgia sufficient to imply acquiescence by Georgia. Except for the activity by the Corps of Engineers, the islands received scant attention from anyone except members of the Barnwell family. And, apart from some rice planting, there is little evidence of activity on the islands other than illegal whiskey production and the raising of hogs fed with the mash. The fact that moonshining could be carried on successfully shows how little attention was paid to the islands by Georgia authorities and the public generally. Except for the placement of a battery on the islands by Confederate forces during the War Between the States, there never was any resident on the islands and no schools, roads, or other public improvements. Georgia acknowledges two grants by South Carolina, one in 1795 and the other in 1813. The grants and accompanying plats, however, identify the property only as islands. These, says Georgia, were invalid because the 1787 Treaty reserved all islands in the river to Georgia. Thus, South Carolina cannot build its case on those grants. To be sure, there were 1868 deeds describing the property as in South Carolina, but these were intrafamily conveyances by the Barnwells and, in any event, provided no notice to anyone until they were recorded in 1930. There also were a marriage settlement in 1832 and a mortgage in 1871 but these, too, were intrafamily transactions. Anyway, their descriptions were insufficient to constitute notice of claim by South Carolina. The same is true of a deed in 1896 whereby the Barnwell brothers conveyed their interests in the islands and other family property to their sisters. A sheriff's deed in 1940 was insufficient to convey title, because of inadequate description of the property, and did not constitute notice to Georgia of any South Carolina claim of jurisdiction. The same is true of a 1942 deed from the Forfeited Land Commission of South Carolina to E. B. Pinckney. There were taxes paid to Beaufort County, S. C., by the Barnwell family and later by Pinckney, but the tax records contain no information identifying the property, and even after 1930 there was no correlation between the acreage reported for taxes and the acreage conveyed by the deeds. The claim of South Carolina prescription and Georgia acquiescence is contradicted by considerable evidence that Georgia and United States officials understood the islands to be in Georgia. Ga. Exceptions 34. There was a Georgia grant in 1760. In 1825, 1830, and 1831, taxes were paid to Chatham County, Ga. Many maps show the Barnwell Islands (other than Rabbit) to be on the Georgia side of the boundary line between the two States. Thus, the short duration of actual possession, the limited South Carolina official Acts, and the paucity of published or recorded documents referring to the islands as in South Carolina fall far short, Georgia claims, of establishing the open and continuous possession required to confirm a boundary by prescription. This is especially so since the islands remained as islands in the river until well into the 20th century, and since South Carolina continued to recognize officially the Treaty of Beaufort with its provision that all islands in the river are in Georgia. This is not a situation where Georgia can be held to have acquiesced. South Carolina, in its turn, first takes the position that the 1955 Fifth Circuit case has no effect whatsoever, directly or indirectly, on the present litigation. South Carolina was not a party in that case, and the case did not fix the boundary between the States. It further argues that Georgia asserted no act of dominion or control over the Barnwell Islands from 1787 until the 1950's, and acquiesced in South Carolina's jurisdiction through long inaction in the face of the latter's continuing and obvious exercise of dominion since 1795. With all this before us, and recognizing that each side advances some facts favorable to its position, we decide this issue in favor of South Carolina. We agree that the 1955 case in the Fifth Circuit cannot be regarded as fixing the boundary between the States. Although some South Carolinians were served with process, they were local officials and a person whose name appeared in the chain of title. South Carolina itself was never served and made no appearance. See Martin v. Wilks, 490 U. S. 755, 761-762 (1989). In any event, this Court, not a Court of Appeals, is the place where an interstate boundary dispute usually is to be resolved. See Durfee v. Duke, 375 U. S. 106, 115-116 (1963). The judgment in the 1955 case, therefore, does not control the issue of South Carolina's sovereignty. Nor do the incidental effects of that case transform the judgment into one that binds South Carolina. This conclusion needs no additional fortification, but, if it did, we would note that South Carolina twice, in 1955 and again in 1957, asked this Court to have the Barnwell area boundary question resolved. Georgia opposed those applications, and leave to file was denied each time by this Court. South Carolina attempted to get the issue here, but until the present litigation was instituted and allowed to proceed, this aspect of the boundary issue was not before this Court. [4] We need not here repeat in detail the extensive record evidence and the tax and conveyancing documents relied upon by the Special Master in reaching his conclusion. It suffices to say that the entire area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was low marshy ground. The islands were separated from Georgia by the wide and deep waters of the Savannah River, but were separated from South Carolina only by streams so shallow that they were described as sometimes dry. Record, S. C. Exh. B-8. See Handly's Lessee v. Anthony, 5 Wheat. 374, 381 (1820). The South Carolina grant in 1813, the almost-uniform taxation of the property, the South Carolina seizure and subsequent sale for unpaid taxes, policing and prosecutorial activities by South Carolina authorities, patrolling by South Carolina wildlife officers, and other factors, all support the Special Master's conclusion that, in any event, South Carolina established sovereignty by prescription and acquiescence. Georgia seeks to avoid the effect of this evidence on the ground that it had no reasonable notice of South Carolina's actions and therefore cannot be said to have acquiesced in them. But inaction alone may constitute acquiescence when it continues for a sufficiently long period. See Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 15 Pet. 233, 274 (1841); Vermont v. New Hampshire, 289 U. S. 593; 616 (1933). And there is more than mere inaction on the part of Georgia. The record contains substantial evidence of events that put Georgia on notice of South Carolina's exercise of sovereignty. Parts of the islands were cultivated, as the Master found, for more than 30 years prior to 1880. This was readily discernible, for rice cultivation requires dikes, and the presence of dikes on the islands appeared on maps of the area as early as 1855. Ga. Exh. 156, App. B to 1 Rep. Georgia was chargeable with knowledge that the Treaty of Beaufort placed all the Savannah River islands in Georgia. Yet Georgia authorities could have discovered there was no record of taxation or other sovereign action over these lands by Georgia except, possibly, for three isolated instances in the early part of the 19th century. Some documents recorded in Georgia, because they also involved Georgia property, describe the islands as in South Carolina. There is evidence, too, that Savannah residents were aware of cultivation on the islands. It is conclusively settled in England, that open and notorious adverse possession is evidence of notice; not of the adverse holding only, but of the title under which the possession is held. . . . And in the United States we deem it to be equally settled. Landes v. Brant, 10 How. 348, 375 (1851). South Carolina must prevail as to the Barnwell Islands issue, and we overrule Georgia's exception with respect thereto.