From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Carroll v. Fausett

Supreme Court of Alabama
Oct 20, 1921
91 So. 73 (Ala. 1921)

Opinion

7 Div. 182.

October 20, 1921.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Randolph County; S. L. Brewer, Judge.

James W. Strother, of Dadeville, for appellant.

The complaint was insufficient in description, and will not support a verdict for plaintiff. 111 Ala. 601, 20 Ala. 485; 174 Ala. 114, 56 So. 532; 114 Ala. 489, 21 So. 946; 99 Ala. 252, 13 So. 613; 43 Ala. 700. No adverse possession is shown in plaintiff. 155 Ala. 231, 46 So. 453; 148 Ala. 247, 41 So. 822; 141 Ala. 451, 37 So. 799, 109 Am. St. Rep. 45; 144 Ala. 516, 41 So. 835; 156 Ala. 462, 47 So. 342; 175 Ala. 214, 57 So. 477; 157 Ala. 478, 47 So. 1011.

R. J. Hooton, of Roanoke, for appellee.

The description was sufficient, 108 Ala. 563, 19 So. 798; 109 Ala. 409, 19 So. 837; 86 Ala. 329, 5 So. 581; 83 Ala. 250, 3 So. 519, 3 Am. St. Rep. 718; 63 Ala. 284. Counsel discuss other matters, but without further citation of authority.


The minute entry shows that defendants demurred "to count 3 in the complaint as last amended," and that the demurrer was overruled. This demurrer is not set out in the record, and, the grounds relied on not being apparent, this court will not review the ruling of the trial court. Shelby Iron Co. v. Bierly, 202 Ala. 422, 80 So. 806.

But appellant contends that the complaint does not describe the land with sufficient certainty to support a verdict and judgment for its recovery. A careful analysis of the complaint convinces us that this contention is well founded. The elements of description are hopelessly self-contradictory as to the depth of the strip. Moreover, it appears that the strip sued for is a part of the lot purchased by plaintiff from Chewning, and yet the western boundary of the strip is said to be the east side of the lot occupied by plaintiff, and no monuments are referred to, nor any mode of demarcation. We do not see how an officer could locate the land with any sort of certainty from the description given, and that is the test of its sufficiency. Goodwin v. Forman, 114 Ala. 489, 492, 21 So. 946; Bradford v. Sneed, 174 Ala. 113, 56 So. 532; Lessley v. Prater, 200 Ala. 43, 75 So. 355.

No evidence was offered to show that any of the grantors in plaintiff's title deeds ever owned or were ever in possession of the land therein conveyed. It was therefore error to instruct the jury that, if the disputed strip was included in the description of the land conveyed to plaintiff by Chewning, plaintiff was entitled to recover in the absence of adverse possession for 10 years by defendants.

We deem it unnecessary to discuss other questions presented by the assignments of error.

For the errors noted, the judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded.

Reversed and remanded.

ANDERSON, C. J., and McCLELLAN and THOMAS, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Carroll v. Fausett

Supreme Court of Alabama
Oct 20, 1921
91 So. 73 (Ala. 1921)
Case details for

Carroll v. Fausett

Case Details

Full title:CARROLL v. FAUSETT

Court:Supreme Court of Alabama

Date published: Oct 20, 1921

Citations

91 So. 73 (Ala. 1921)
91 So. 73

Citing Cases

Hughes v. Allen

To support a judgment in ejectment, the complaint must describe the property so that the sheriff, unaided by…

Hinson v. Cook

Martin v. Carroll, 235 Ala. 30, 177 So. 144; Code 1923, § 9335; Compton v. Simmons, 223 Ala. 352, 135 So.…