Baker v Weedon, 262 So. 2d 641 (MS. 1972)

2009-02-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

John Weedon and Anna Plaxico were married in 1915. Weedon was 55. Anna was 17. They worked together on John Weedon’s farm in Corinth, Mississippi for the next seventeen years. They never had children. John Weedon did have two daughters from a previous marriage, but he was estranged from them. In 1932, John Weedon died. He expressly excluded his daughters from the Will. Instead, he left the farm to Anna in life estate, passing to Anna’s children if she had any when she died. If Anna Weedon died without issue, John Weedon’s Will provided for his grandchildren. They would take the farm, each receiving an equal share of the estate.

Anna remained on the farm for the next thirty years. She had no contact with John's grandchildren, and they had no knowledge of their inheritance. That changed in 1964. Anna was then in her seventies and had ceased to operate the farm, though she still lived there. She was renting out a portion of the land for farming and placement of a billboard. But the rental income was less than $2000 annually (about $13,000/year today).

The city of Corinth was expanding. Urban growth had arrived, and with it a highway bypass. Construction of the bypass was aimed directly at the Weedon Farm. The Highway Department sought a right-of-way. The Highway Department contacted the surviving grandchildren, John Baker, Sarah Lyman and Louise Baker Heck to work out the deal. The grandchildren, headed by John's grandson, Henry Baker settled on $20,000 for the right of way. From that sum, Anna Weedon received $7500 to build a new house elsewhere. However, this was a pittance, given the land’s potential.

Anna Weedon knew the value of the land was increasing exponentially. The bypass would bring businesses. The land was worth more sold than it was farmed. She was broke and needed money immediately. She asked the chancery court to let her sell the farm. The Court granted her request based on the theory of economic waste. It held that to retain the land is to deny its full capacity. But Baker and his siblings appealed the decision that effectively divested them of their future interest in the land.

The Supreme Court of Mississippi reversed the lower court, holding that the chancery had the authority to order sale only when the sale was necessary because of deterioration. The land was not falling into disrepair. There was also enough revenue to pay the property taxes. Thus the sale was not necessary. The supreme court also said justice demands that the needs of all interested parties needed to be considered. The court concludes that the sale would benefit Anna Weedon immediately. But the sale would also be an unjust financial loss for the remaindermen.

Today: Baker v Weedon begins a classroom discussion of economic and physical waste. It is our first glance at the dreaded “future interests” portion of our studies. It also allows us to examine life estates and remaindermen and how the courts balance the needs of each. But Baker v. Weedon is a special little case. At its core, is a family dispute. But, pull back the camera to a wider shot and we glimpse America’s 20th Century.

Consider the cultural changes. When John married Anna in 1915, Anna was seventeen. He was 55. They built a life together, caring for the farm. And John Weedon lovingly provided for Anna when he died. Today, in many jurisdictions John Weedon would be labeled a sex offender. He would be shunned for coercing a teenaged girl into a sordid love affair and forcing her into manual labor. We would be studying this case in crimlaw instead of first-year property. But the history is broader than that.

Anna Weedon’s life on that farm spanned WWI, the great depression, WWII, the Korean conflict and Vietnam. She lived in the deep south while America transformed from an agricultural society to a post-war industrialized Nuclear super-power. And as her ability to labor diminished, she watched the lights of Corinth approach. By the time this case commenced in 1964 the life she knew during her marriage to John Weedon was not just a personal memory. It was a relic of America’s history that was being concealed by pavement one right-of-way at a time.

In 1964 Lyndon Johnson was elected President. He had just served a partial term in the wake of Kennedy's assassination. Julie Andrews won an Oscar for her role in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. The Beatles were churning out hits. And just thirty miles away from Anna Weedon’s farm, the bodies of three civil rights workers were found buried in the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. It is an exclamation point in the civil rights struggle that would eventually be known as the Mississippi Burning trial.

Corinth itself is not a stranger to history. Located in Alcorn County, Mississippi, Corinth (a city of about 14,000) is ninety miles south-east of Memphis. Because of its key location on the railroad during the 1860s it became a central battle ground in the civil war. Over 300,000 soldiers descended on the city between 1861 and 1865. The seige of Corinth and the Corinth battle were some of the bloodiest engagements of the war. (http://www.corinth.net/facts.htm).

Today, Corinth is home to the civil war interpretive center, a national park that features civil war exhibits and living history displays http://www.corinth.net/facts.htm. Corinth is also home to the Crossroads Arena, which has a full schedule of events this year from Monster Trucks to charity events to a performance by the Oakridge Boys. It is easy to find the Arena. It is located on the southwest corner of Harper Road and Bypass 45. http://www.crossroadsarena.com/map.htm. The arena is just across the highway from Tate Street and Merchant Circle. A commercial printing facility called World Color Press was once located near merchant circle. Its address was 2787 S Harper Rd., Corinth, MS 38834. For a time, there was something else there, a farm. It was a farm where a lady named Anna watched the city approach and the world grow up from the comfort of her own front yard. We all know what happened to the farm. It is gone. But maybe it is no coincidence that the printing facility where the Weedon farm once stood published the very magazine that allowed all of us to witness the world from the comfort our own homes: National Geographic.

Learn about Corinth: http://www.cityofcorinthms.com/

See the Alcorn County Courthouse (the chancery court is located here) http://flickr.com/photos/lonelypilgrim/2947181586/

Learn about the Mississippi Supreme Court. Look up local rules of procedure. Find employment. http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/

See how Corinth's population has changed throughout Anna Weedon's life: Census link http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ms190090.txt

The Case of the Family Farm

2009-02-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

When the state of Mississippi wants to put in a new highway, a widow sees her chance to gain some much needed money. All she has to do is sell her farm. There is only one problem: it's not entirely her farm.

Coming Soon: Baker v. Weedon and a look at Corinth, Mississippi.

Pierson v Post, S.Ct of New York. 3 Cai. R. 175 (1805)

2009-02-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

This property primer was born of a dispute that occurred in the early days of the 19th century. It happened along a stretch of beach in Southampton, New York. Two men, Lodowik Post and Jesse Pierson became entangled in a legal battle after Pierson killed the very fox that Post and his hunting company were pursuing. Pierson was aware of Post and his hunting party, but killed and took the fox anyway. Each man declared that the fox was his: Post because he pursued it and Pierson because he had killed it. The case eventually went before the Supreme Court of New York. New York's Supreme Court held that with respect to ferae naturae (wild animals), pursuit alone is not sufficient to establish possession. At minimum, mortal wounding in addition to pursuit might be sufficient to establish ownership because it demonstrates the pursuer's clear intent to own. Calling Pierson's actions, "uncourteous", the Court nevertheless holds for Pierson.

Pierson v Post is studied today to introduce how a world becomes propertized. But the case is laden with history not portrayed in this student's case book. According to Bethany Burger's article, "It's Not About the Fox: The Untold History of Pierson v. Post", (2006) 55 Duke L.J. 1089, underlying class tension and Southampton's politics may have served to exacerbate the dispute between Mr. Pierson and Mr. Post. To learn more about this case and a history of Southampton, Wikipedia's entry provides a nice overview of the case and links to other resources. Ms. Burger's article can be found here: FOX. The article offers a detailed discussion of the case and the history of Southampton, New York. Of particular interest is the passage that indicates precisely where the incident occurred.

Southampton, New York is located on the south-eastern coast of Long Island. Located on the marshy beach is a dot of land called Peter's Pond. A GoogleMaps or GoogleEarth search on these coordinates will yield the location "40.917824,-72.261414". According to Bethany Burger's article, it is near Peter's Pond that Pierson is said to have spotted the fox. But the dispute over property did not end with the Court's holding on this case. Southampton is a popular summer retreat for families and some of America's wealthiest alike. Ira Rennert, millionaire industrialist built his sprawling 63-acre estate near Peter's Pond (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Rennert). The mansion is visible from the beach and surrounding low lands. It caused an uproar when it was built ("Millionaire's Mega-Mansion Shocks Even the Hamptons", by Jane Gross, New York Times - Published: August 23, 1998).

For those of us who are too busy with class to venture out to Long Island, I called in a favor. I contacted a certain Artist who lives in the area and said, "Dad, could you take some pictures, please?"

Welcome to Peter's Pond, Southampton, NY.

The Wandering Swan

Baker v Weedon, 262 So. 2d 641 (MS. 1972)

The Case of the Family Farm

Pierson v Post, S.Ct of New York. 3 Cai. R. 175 (1805)