George P. Bush, as the Land Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office v. Lone Oak Club, LLC

Summary

This document is a dissenting opinion in a Texas Supreme Court title dispute concerning ownership of submerged land beneath the tidally influenced Lone Oak Bayou. Justice Green, joined by Chief Justice Hecht, would hold that the State of Texas owns the disputed land below the line of mean high tide under the English common law and that the 1837 Navigable Stream Statute and the Small Bill do not apply to such land.

Holdings

1. The dissent would hold that the 1837 Navigable Stream Statute and the Small Bill apply to navigable streams above the line of mean high tide, but do not apply to submerged land below that line under tidally influenced waters.
2. The dissent would hold that submerged land below the line of mean high tide is presumed to belong to the State, and only the Legislature may relinquish that title through clear and express language.
3. The dissent would hold that the portion of the Governor's 1872 patent purporting to convey land beneath tidally influenced Lone Oak Bayou was invalid, so Sophronia Barrow and her successors, including Lone Oak Club, never acquired valid title to that submerged land.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the 1837 Navigable Stream Statute and the Small Bill apply to submerged land below the line of mean high tide.
2. Whether the State presumptively owns land submerged beneath tidally influenced waters and may relinquish that ownership only through an express legislative grant.
3. Whether the Governor's 1872 patent could validly convey the portion of Lone Oak Bayou below the line of mean high tide.
4. Whether the Small Bill validly relinquished the State's interest in the submerged bed of Lone Oak Bayou.

Disposition

other