Opinion
August 5, 1952. Rehearing Denied October 14, 1952.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Broward County, Joseph S. White, J.
J.A. Fitzsimmons, Fort Lauderdale, for appellants.
Warren O. Windle and Linwood Cabot, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a final decree quieting appellee title as against appellants.
Appellants' contention as to the constitutionality of the legislative acts involved were answered adversely in Demko v. Judge, Fla., 58 So.2d 692.
The lower court in its decree which we approve, said "If defendants [appellants] have any title at all it must rest either upon the deed of conveyance from the Town to Anglin, dated January 27th, 1940, or upon the trust theory recognized by the Master.
"Unquestionably the deed of conveyance is void because the purported grantor was not in existence. The Town had been abolished by act of Legislature and had no legal status by which it could become grantor in a conveyance of real property. The trust theory cannot stand because there isn't the slightest inference that Anglin intended to retain any interest in the property when it was conveyed to the Town in 1930. True, it is that Anglin paid the consideration for the transfer, but the only inference which can be drawn from this record is that an absolute gift was intended. The Town had no power to accept lands as `trustee', nor to hold the naked legal title thereto for the benefit of some particular individual.
"Constructive or resulting trusts are recognized when it is equitable or just to do so to prevent a fraud or unjust enrichment. No such case is made here and the conclusion is inescapable that the absolute title to the lands passed to the Town."
The decree appealed from is affirmed.
SEBRING, C.J., and TERRELL, THOMAS, ROBERTS and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.