Opinion ID: 1753810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: 1/2 of NE 1/4 of Section 21

Text: This parcel was leased to Ussery by the county in 1883. Unlike Parcels A and B, Parcel C was not the subject of any tax sale from the time it was acquired by the school board in 1867 until its lease to Ussery in 1883. The chain of title to Parcel C is very simply Swamp Land Commission to Sullivan to school board, with the school board giving to Ussery a lease expiring in 1982. Appellees' chain of title to Parcel C begins with the same 1892 Mayfield-to-Booth deed which also conveyed Parcel B. There is no event in the school board's chain of title to raise the presumption of grant as it is raised in Jones, supra, and Presley v. Haynes, supra . However, the State's collection of taxes on the subject property and the payment thereof by appellees and their predecessors in title over a period of 93 years is sufficient to raise the presumption that there was a legal liability to pay the taxes and, therefore, a further presumption that the property was at some point granted by the State to private owners preceding appellees in their chain of title. Carter v. Stewart, 149 Ark. 189, 231 S.W. 887 (1921). Thus, title to the W 1/2 of the NE 1/4 of Section 21 is perfected in appellees. As stated hereinabove, the chancellor decided the issues in favor of appellees Ryes on two propositions, i.e., (1) trustees of the Monroe County Board of Education had no authority to acquire property in 1867 for school purposes, and (2) appellees' predecessors in title acquired title to the property by adverse possession prior to 1890. Since we decide the issues on other grounds, we do not address those points upon which the lower court grounded its decision. Assuming that the chancellor erred in his holding, nevertheless he ordered that title to all of the subject property be confirmed in appellees Ryes. Therefore, under the facts and the law of the case, he reached the correct result. When the chancellor reaches the correct result, though for the wrong reason, this Court will affirm the judgment entered. Estate of Johnson v. Adkins, 513 So.2d 922 (Miss. 1987); Tedford v. Dempsey, 437 So.2d 410 (Miss. 1983). The judgment of the lower court is affirmed. AFFIRMED. HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and ANDERSON and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur. ROBERTSON, PRATHER, SULLIVAN and ZUCCARO, dissent.