Johnston v. Jones

by Noah Haynes Swayne

United States Supreme Court

66 U.S. 209

Johnston  v.  Jones

Writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois.

William S. Johnston brought ejectment in the Circuit Court against John A. Jones and another for a part of the land formed by accretion on the shore of Lake Michigan, north of the north pier of the harbor of Chicago. The cause was tried in the Circuit Court, and a verdict and judgment were given for the plaintiff, when the defendant brought it up to this court by writ of error, where it was reversed, and a venire facias de novo awarded. The facts as they appeared upon the record at that time are fully stated in the opinion of Mr. Justice Nelson, 18 How., 150. On the second trial the same evidence was given, with no new additions, except the two documents pertaining to the plaintiff's title which are mentioned in the opinion of Mr. Justice Swayne. That opinion also contains a statement of the facts upon which the several rulings of the Circuit Court upon the admissibility of evidence were based, and quotes at sufficient length the instructions which were given to the jury. The verdict and judgment were in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff took this writ of error.

Mr. Wills, of Illinois, for plaintiff in error, argued that the errors of the Circuit Court apparent on this record entitled the plaintiff to a reversal of the judgment on such radical grounds as would insure to him the ultimate recovery of the property in dispute.

The defendant has always insisted that lot 34 never had a lake shore front. This has been his favorite line of defence. It is the fundamental question in the case, and if the fact be as the defendant alleges, then the plaintiff had no right from the beginning to the land he claims. This, however, is a question of fact not to be argued here, except as it arises incidentally in the discussion of the points of law ruled by the court.

If it be established that the lot (34) had originally a lake front, was it not conveyed with the accretions to the plaintiff by the deed of October, 1835? Was it intended to reserve any part of the land which had become attached to its eastern border? The whole of the accretions passed by the description, 'Water lot 34, and the tenements and hereditaments thereunto belonging.' Such was the manifest intent of the parties.

But if the deed of October, 1835, does not bear on its face the evidence of the parties' intentions to pass the accretions, then the deed of July, 1857, was admissible as evidence of the original intention to do so, and it was error not to receive it for that purpose.

If the accretion did not pass by the deed of 1835, and the deed of 1857 is not admissible for the purpose mentioned, then in falling back upon the deed of 1835 just as it is, it becomes important to know when the title of the plaintiff under that deed commenced. It began not at the date of the deed, (October 22, 1835,) but at the date of the title-bond of June 10, 1835. This raises a new question of fact-raises it fairly-and the instruction which compelled the jury to exclude it from their consideration was erroneous. The jury should have been charged to inquire whether the lot had a lake front at the date of the title-bond; and if it had, to find a verdict for the plaintiff. The title which the plaintiff took under the deed related back to the date of the title-bond.

Even if all these points were against the plaintiff, he is entitled to recover against this defendant by virtue of his claim of title and his prior possession under his deed. The defendant is a mere intruder upon the previous possession of the plaintiff.

The court did not allow the proper value to be given to the maps and surveys. A map referred to in a deed is part of the deed, and as much to be considered as if expressly recited.

The court should not have refused to let the plaintiff's counsel ask the witness Jones (a brother of the defendant) whether the defendant had paid him anything for lot 35 when it was conveyed. The power of cross-examination is the great test for the discovery of truth. The plaintiff was deprived of a clear right.

The testimony of Greenwood was rebutting, and it was erroneously regarded by the court as evidence in chief. But aside from this the court erred in excluding it when there was no allegation of trick, surprise, or injury which the plaintiff could suffer by receiving it out of the regular order.

The rule given to the jury for dividing the accretions among the several owners of the lots having lake fronts was entirely wrong.

Mr. Fuller, of Illinois, and Mr. Carlisle, of Washington city, for defendants in error. This cause has been tried by a jury under instructions from the judge who presided in the court below, couched in the very words of the opinion delivered in this case by Mr. Justice Nelson, and upon the issue which this court there determined was the only proper issue for the consideration of the jury. On that trial a verdict was rendered for the defendants below.

The plaintiff brings the case here, and directly questions the former decision of this court in this very case. He likewise assigns seven specific errors in the rulings of the court on the trial below, in the course of the trial.

Except a deed made by John H. Kinzie to the plaintiff in 1857, the titles of the respective parties are precisely the same as they were on all the former trials; and the facts out of which the controversy arose having occurred twenty-five years ago, are, of course, unchanged.

In the opinion of the court, in 18 Howard, 150, is a full statement of the material facts in the case; and it will appear by examination of that opinion that the following propositions were stated and decided by this court as the law of the case:

FIRST. That both plaintiff's and defendant's lots were conveyed with express reference to the recorded plat of Kinzie's addition to the town of Chicago, which description was conclusive upon the parties until that reference was reformed. 18 Howard, 153.

SECOND. That the true issue to be tried by the jury was, whether or not, at the time of the deed to the plaintiff, lot 34 (plaintiff's) had a water line upon the lake north of the north pier of the Chicago harbor. 18 Howard, 157.

THIRD. That in dividing the accretion, the pier front of the accretion should be take into account. 18 Howard, 157-8.

With these points decided by this court as the law of this case, the parties again went to trial, and the court below gave the instructions to the jury which are found in the record.

The issue of fact, indicated by this court as the only important question to be tried by the jury, was distinctly presented to the jury, who found the defendants not guilty; or, in other words, that the plaintiff's water lot 34, Kinzie's addition to Chicago, had not a water line on the east side north of the north pier of the Chicago harbor at the date of his deed, October, 1835.

This finding of the jury is conclusive upon the parties as to the question of fact, and leaves the plaintiff without any right or interest to question the rule of division of the accretion laid down by the court.

It is immaterial to him what that rule is; for he has nothing to be divided, and he should not trouble this court or these defendants to review the former decision upon this point, for a merely abstract and speculative purpose.

He is not harmed or helped by any decision of any question that does not, when decided, apply to his interests in this case; and for this, as well as other obvious reasons, we shall not discuss the former decision of this court upon this part of the case, holding it to be settled law.

The facts being unchanged, the law of the case, once declared, remains the law.

With the exception of the deed made since the commencement of this suit, every link in the chain of title, every deed of either party to the record, and every fact, remain the same.

Yet the plaintiff's counsel insists, in a voluminous printed argument of about one hundred pages, that this court should review and change its opinion upon these identical facts and deeds, already fully considered and solemnly pronounced.

This will not be allowed. In the language of Mr. Justice Grier: 'It has been settled by the decisions of this court, that after a case has been brought here, and decided, and a mandate issued to the court below, if a second writ of error is sued out, it brings up for revision nothing but the proceedings subsequent to the mandate.' Roberts vs. Cooper, (20 Howard, 481,) where several similar decisions of this court upon this point are referred to, all to the same effect.

So much for the general question; now examine the points peculiar to the last trial below.

1. It is an inflexible rule that the plaintiff in ejectment must recover, if at all, upon his legal title, as it stood at the commencement of the suit, or, at least, at the date of the demise laid in the declaration. Goodlitle vs. Herbert, (4 Term., 680;) Wood vs. Martin, (11 Illinois, 547;) Pitkin vs. Yaw, (13 Illinois, 251;) Binney's Lessee vs. The Canal Co., (8 Peters, 218.)

If, therefore, the deed from Kinzie of 1857 was necessary to give the plaintiff the legal title to the premises sued for, it could not help him in this suit, because it was made since the action was brought. It was, however, offered as a volunteer reformation of the deed from John H. Kinzie to Robert A. Kinzie, made in 1835-not as conveying a title of itself, but as an enlargement of the estate and premises conveyed by that deed-to get rid of the decision of this court that the parties were bound by the references in their respective deeds to the recorded plat, until that reference was reformed, if it needed and was susceptible of reformation.

Instead of going into chancery to reform the deeds, where the mistake would be alleged and proven if it could be, and all parties in interest brought before the court, the plaintiff went to a person who, twenty-two or three years before, had made a deed to defendant, Jones, of lot 35 and all 'his interest east thereof,' and under which deed Jones had ever since occupied and claimed to own the premises in dispute, and who had, at a subsequent date, conveyed to Robert A. Kinzie lot 34, according to the 'recorded plat of Kinzie's addition,' and from whom (Robert A. Kinzie) plaintiff had acquired his title, by the same description, and gets from him an instrument reciting that he intended to convey to said Robert A. Kinzie 'all the accretions formed on the water line of lot 34,' and that 'disputes had arisen about the title to those accretions;' therefore, 'to settle the same,' he conveys them all for twenty-five dollars to the plaintiff, who then seeks to recover them by virtue of this deed made without notice to the defendants, or any one in interest with them, by means of an action of ejectment begun eight years before the deed was made.

2. Another exception arises upon the ruling of the court below, that it was incompetent for the witness Greeley to compute the rate and amount of growth of the accretion in 1834 and 1835, by his own calculations, based on Lieutenant Allen's maps and diagrams.

There was no error in this, because it was not alleged that there was any ambiguity in those maps themselves; and being admitted in evidence, it was for the jury to say what light they threw upon the issue on trial, and not for the witness. And besides, the maps themselves, not being positive, original evidence, could not properly be made the foundation of such evidence from the witness, which, at most, could only be matter of opinion based on hearsay testimony, or, res inter alios acta. The witness had no personal knowledge of either Lieutenant Allen, his maps, or of the accretion; and his opinion upon these matters was not competent testimony to go to the jury, who alone should draw any proper influences from the maps and reports which were in evidence.

3. The court refused to allow Capital J. D. Webster to testify what were his duties as superintendent of the harbor in 1841 and 1842, with a view of proving what were Lieutenant Allen's duties as such officer in 1834-5, and thus adding to the weight, as evidence of Lieutenant Allen's reports and maps. In this the court below was right. It was not the proper way of proving what were the official duties of an officer of the Government, nor would it tend to prove what were Lieutenant Allen's duties eight years before, while superintending the building of the piers, or in any degree to prove whether plaintiff's lot had or had not a water line north of the north pier at the date of his deed.

4. The court below did not err in refusing to allow plaintiff's counsel to cross-examine Benjamin Jones in the manner proposed. Jones had testified in chief for the defendants; and plaintiff's counsel on cross-examination put the questions objected to, not to show that he was an incompetent witness, but to affect his credibility with the jury. This was wholly within the discretion of the judge who tried the cause. It is always within his discretion to control the cross-examination of witnesses, designed to affect their credibility. Ample opportunity was afforded plaintiff's counsel in this case; but whether or not a certain question should be put, and if answered, what its effect might be, was solely for the judge who tried the case to decide; and having exercised his undoubted authority to direct and control the cross-examination, his decision is not subject to revision here. Teese et al. vs. Huntington et al., (23 Howard, 2.)

5. The court refused to allow the plaintiff to examine S. S. Greenwood upon anything not rebutting to the proof made by defendants. Plaintiff had closed his case, except the right specially reserved to examine G. S. Hubbard, as appears on page 194, printed record. But when it became his turn to offer rebutting evidence to defendant's proof, he proposed to accumulate testimony upon the main issue, by asking the witness Greenwood where the water line was, east of or upon lot 34. The court refused this, because it was not rebutting testimony; it related to the very point the plaintiff was bound to prove in the first instance, and having proved it as far as he desired, except as to the introduction of Hubbard, he rested, and, according to all rules, the door was closed against cumulative proof from him on the points at issue, unless the court saw fit to open it. 'The mode of conducting trials, the order of introducing evidence, and the time when it shall be introduced, are properly matters belonging to the practice of the Circuit Courts, with which this court ought not to interfere.' The P. & T. R. R. Co. vs. Simpson, (per Story, J., 14 Peters, 448.) If the plaintiff wanted Greenwood's testimony on this point, he should have called him at first, or reserved the right to have done so later in the trial. Not having done this, he has no right to complain that the court applied to him the ordinary rules of practice in all common law courts.

6. The only remaining exception which we propose to consider, is the objection to the charges of the court relating to the weight which the various maps and plats were entitled to, as instruments of evidence. Except Lieutenant Allen's maps or diagrams, every map and plat offered and admitted in evidence was made by a living witness, present on the stand at the trial of the case; and every fact in controversy was within the memory and knowledge of a cloud of living witnesses. Manifestly the maps would only properly admitted in evidence to explain, illustrate, and apply the testimony of the witnesses. Where was the water line, with reference to the east line of plaintiff's lot, at date of his deed? was the issue on trial. A witness could not make a map that would determine that issue more effectually than his statement on oath; and a map made anywhere, or at any time, was only valuable as proved to have been made by one competent to do so, and present to verify his work. It had no inherent, intrinsic weight as evidence. This disposes of all the maps allowed to go to the jury for any purpose except certain diagrams made by Lieutenant Allen in the years following 1834 down to 1839; and of these it seems sufficient to say, that it does not appear that his reports of soundings were within the sphere of his official duty, for what his official duty was nowhere appears in the case; and so they were not evidence according to the decision of this court, in Ellicott et al. vs. Pearl, (10 Peters, 412;) and, even if done officially, his acts could not bind or affect the rights of the parties to this suit.

But the issue was, where was the water line with reference to the east line of plaintiff's lot 34 at the date of his deed, and not how deep the water of Lake Michigan was somewhere else; and neither the soundings nor reports of soundings at other places tended to determine the issue on trial. Besides, the maps were before the jury, to be judged of by them, if connection with the other evidence in the case. 1 Phillips on Evidence, Cowen & Hill's Notes, 236, 282, and 283; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence, sec. 139; 7 Carrington & Payne, 483; Morris et al. vs. The Lessee of Hamus Neils, (7 Peters, 554.) In the last case the court said that an ancient plat of the city of Cincinnati, though the only one in existence, and the only recognised plat of the city, was not conclusive upon the questions of boundary of lots in that city. This part of the case may be dismissed with the remark that when the exact and single issue of fact before the jury is kept in view, it becomes apparent that maps and plats of other places, and points relating to other dates and periods of time, could not, in the very nature of them, throw any light on that issue, and could only serve to apply the testimony of the witnesses to the premises in question. Not a single one of the maps or plats offered in evidence was referred to, as in any way connected with the titles of the parties, except the recorded plat of Kinzie's addition, and by that this court decided the parties are bound until it is changed. 18 Howard, 153.

Mr. Justice SWAYNE.

Notes