Mobile Transportation Company v. Mobile

This was an action in ejectment brought in the state circuit court by the city of Mobile against the Mobile Transportation Company, to recover a portion of the shore and bed of the Mobile river in the city of Mobile, between high-water mark and the channel line or point of practical navigability.

In support of its title the city relied upon the following acts:

1. An act of Congress approved March 2, 1819, entitled 'An Act to Enable the People of the Alabama Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States.' 3 Stat. at L. 489, chap. 47.

2. An ordinance of the convention of Alabama adopted August 2, 1819, accepting the proposition offered by Congress. Ala. Code 1876, p. 68.

3. A resolution of Congress of December 14, 1819, declaring the admission of the state into the Union, with a Constitution which had been adopted by the state. 3 Stat. at L. 608.

4. An act of the general assembly of Alabama, approved January 31, 1867, entitled 'An Act Granting the City of Mobile the Riparian Rights in the River Front.' Acts of 1866-67, p. 307.

5. An act of the assembly, approved February 18, 1895, entitled 'An Act to fix the Right of the City of Mobile to Certain Real Estate.' Acts of 1894-95, p. 815.

6. An act approved December 5, 1896 (Acts 1896, p. 49), amending the last act.

Several acts respecting the incorporation of the city of Mobile, unnecessary to be considered, were also offered in evidence. It was admitted that defendant was in possession of the lands.

Defendant pleaded the statute of limitations, and offered in evidence certain 'documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States, in relation to the public lands, from the first session of the First Congress to the first session of the Twenty-third Congress,' and particularly that relating to the claim of one Regis Bernoudy, who claimed under a Spanish grant made March 3, 1792, to Joseph Munora, together with evidence of the report of the Land Commissioner in favor of his claim, and a patent of the United States dated December 28, 1836, to the assignees of Bernoudy, wherein it was recited that the claim of Bernoudy (entered as No. 11) was affirmed, had been surveyed, and was by such title granted unto his assignees. The defendant also offered an unbroken chain of deeds from these assignees to the transportation company, as well as proof of an adverse possession of the lands described in the complaint, under a color of right, for twenty years before bringing suit.

All this evidence was excluded by the circuit court, whose action in that particular was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. 128 Ala. 335, 30 So. 645.

Messrs. Frederic G. Bromberg, William B. Putney, and Eugene H. Lewis, for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Harry T. Smith and Gregory L. Smith for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court: