Worthen v. Ratcliffe
Supreme Court of Arkansas
APPEAL from Pulaski Chancery Court. Hon. David M. Carroll, Chancellor. An Auditor’s deed \b prima facie evidence of regularity, and imports title good on its face. 17 Ark., 516; 7 lb., Jfik; 15 Ark., 331; lb., 365. An abandoned improvement grown up, gives no right, being no improvement. (21 Ark., 33.) The act of eleventh of January, 1851 (Gantt’s Big., sec. 3905), was passed after this land was forfeited and at a time when it was subject to donation.
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APPEAL from Pulaski Chancery Court. Hon. David M. Carroll, Chancellor. An Auditor’s deed \b prima facie evidence of regularity, and imports title good on its face. 17 Ark., 516; 7 lb., Jfik; 15 Ark., 331; lb., 365. An abandoned improvement grown up, gives no right, being no improvement. (21 Ark., 33.) The act of eleventh of January, 1851 (Gantt’s Big., sec. 3905), was passed after this land was forfeited and at a time when it was subject to donation. Hanger made no improvement until 1857, and then the land was forfeited to the State; not owning the land he could own no improvement. The law…
1Opinion of the CourtSmith, J.
Mrs. Worthen brought ejectment in the Pulaski Circuit Court against Ratuliffe and wife and Ered. Hanger, for forty acres of land. Her title is derived by inheritance from her son George, who in his lifetime held a donation deed from the State, executed in the year 1858, and based upon a forfeiture for the non-payment of taxes for the year 1840. This deed had been confirmed in 1861, by decree of the Pulaski Chancery Court.
The defendants exhibited a chain of title connecting themselves with the original patentee of the United States, attacked the forfeiture for taxes as erroneous, and set up…
2Cases cited7 opinions
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- Parker v. OvermanSupreme Court of the United States · 1856
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- Wheeler v. WalkerSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1817
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3Cited by14 opinions
- Rainey v. QuigleyOregon Supreme Court · 1947
- State ex rel. Cunningham v. HelmsIndiana Supreme Court · 1893
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- Hobbs v. LenonSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1935
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