Court Opinion

ID: 9827662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 17:44:50.035222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:34.227211
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellee requests the court to find additional facts agreed to and set out in tbe statement of facts, as follows, and which ap-pellee insists are material. We have granted that part of tbe motion, and, in accordance with tbe statement of facts, find as follows:
First. Patents were issued to parts of tbe 325 leagues of land to counties in Texas, which were created but unorganized at the time of tbe act of tbe Seventeenth Legislature of Texas, approved March 26, 1881, took effect, as follows: Leagues and parts of leagues Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 13, 14, 15, 16, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 37, 38, 35, 36, west part of 45, 2,533 acres of 46, 47, 48, 1,895 acres of tbe north part of 49, 2,533 acres of the south part of 49, 50, 51, 52, 1,895 acres of the east part of 53, 2,063 acres of the north part of 57, 58, 59, 60, 2,365 acres of the south part of 61, 2,063 acres of the east part of 65, 66, 67, 68, 2,365 acres of the west part of 69, 2,063 acres of the north part of 73, 74, 75, 76, 2,365 acres of the north part of 77.
Patents were issued to parts of said 325 leagues to counties in Texas which were created after said act of 1881 took effect, as follows: Leagues and parts of leagues Nos. 62, 2,063 acres of the north part of 61, 63, 64, 2,365 acres of the west part of 65, 2,063 acres of the east part of 69, 70, 71, 72, 2,365 acres of the south part of 73, 2,063 acres of the south part of 77, 78, 79, and 80.
The following parts of said 325 leagues of land were patented to counties in Texas, which were organized at the time said act of the Seventeenth Legislature of Texas took effect, and to O. E. Flato: Leagues or parts of leagues Nos. 322, 323, 324, 325, 26, 1,548 acres of the south part of 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 20, 22, 23, 24, 1,663 acres of. the northwest part of 27, 28, 54 acres of the north part of 29, 39, 41, 1,214 acres of the south part of 42, 40, 960 acres of the east part of 42, 2,254 acres of the northwest part of 42, 43, 44,1,895 acres of the east part of 45, 2,533 acres of the west part of 53, 54, 55, 56, 1,895 acres of the south part of 57, 470 acres of the middle part of 57, 366 acres of the north part of 29.
The following leagues have been patented to the counties named since July 29, 1866: Leagues and parts of leagues numbered as follows: 2,941 acres of the east part of 321, July 7, 1892, to Rusk county; 1,000 acres, middle part of 321, September 29, 1892, to Wheeler county; 584 acres, north middle part of 205, September 30, 1903, to Collin county; 1,546 acres, southwest part of 205, October 21, 1904, to Walker county; 739 acres, northwest part of 212, August 22, 1906, to Blanco county; 515 acres, south middle part 'of 205, November 17, 1906, to Lamar county.
Second. All of said 25 additional leagues, numbered from 301 to 325, inclusive, have been patented to unorganized counties, and none of them patented to counties which were organized when the act of 1881 took effect, except leagues 322, 323, 324, 325, and 3,941 acres of league 321.
Third. The whole of said 325 leagues had been patented prior to the bringing of this suit as follows: To 18 counties created after the act of 1881 took effect, taking four leagues each, aggregating 72 leagues; to counties which were organized when the act of 1881 took effect, 37 leagues, and a fraction, and the balance, consisting of 215 and a fraction leagues, with.some exception not material to be stated, by counties which had been created but were unorganized when the act of 1881 took effect
Fourth. Shackelford county was created by act of the Legislature February 1, 1858, and organized on or about September 12, 1874. July 9, 1875, the Commissioner of the General Land Office issued to Shackelford county four - school land certificates for one league each, said certificates being numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. These certificates were located in Motley county in 1875, and the field notes returned to the Land Office December the same year, and the four leagues patented to Shackelford county in June, 1877. It subsequently developed that *1184said four leagues were entirely covered by older and valid surveys. The patents therefor were returned to the Land Office and canceled July 6, 1886, for that reason. On July 29, 1886, the four leagues of land in controversy in this cause were patented to Shackelford county; the patent reciting that they were issued by virtue of an act of the Legislature of the state of Texas, approved April 7, 1883.
Fifth. Shackelford county has never received any land for school purposes except the four leagues in controversy herein, except the four leagues in Motley county above mentioned, the patents to which were canceled. On May 14, 1900, Shackelford county sold the lands in controversy to one Oxsheer, partly on credit and partly for cash. On June 6, 1900, Oxsheer conveyed the land to appellee, O. C. Slaughter, partly for cash and the balance by the assumption by the said Slaughter of the remainder of the purchase price due the county, and Slaughter went into possession of the lands. He thereafter paid the balance of the purchase price owing the county, and on August 12, 1908, the county conveyed the land to him. The sale and conveyance by Shackelford county complied with the laws governing sale by counties of their school lands and were the acts of the commissioners’ court of Shackelford county.
The motion for rehearing is in all things else overruled.