Court Opinion

ID: 9507971
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:26:48.537651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:26.249790
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE WEBER,
specially concurring:
I agree with the holding of the majority opinion that the judgment of the District Court is affirmed because the defendant was unable to deliver marketable title to the plaintiffs.
The majority states that the requirement of Section 76-3-401, MCA, can be satisfied if the parcel contains not less than 20 acres and is an aliquot part of a government section or lot and if it is divisible into aliquot parts of a government section or a lot and the parcel is physically contiguous, even though the aliquot parts may be located in more than one government section or lot. I do not agree with that statutory interpretation.
The majority would approve the use of the following description: N½ S½ SW¼ SW¼ Sec. 23 and SE¼ NE¼ SE¼ SE¼ Sec. 22. Even though the two ten acre tracts are located in different sections, that would be held by the majority to be a sufficient description.
Section 76-3-401, MCA, clearly says that a parcel must be surveyed if it cannot be described as a one-thirty-second or larger aliquot part of a section. If the section in question is 640 acres as is the normal government section, then the smallest parcel would be a 20 acre aliquot part such as S½ SW¼ SW¼ of Sec. 23. That is the smallest parcel which may be described under the statute without a survey.