John Archibald Campbell

“ The statutes of Wisconsin provide for the partition of estates held in common, by a bill in equity, filed in the Circuit Court of the county in which the land is, and for a sale of the premises when a partition would be prejudicial to the owners. The court upon the hearing may determine and declare the rights, titles, and interests, of the parties to the proceedings, and order a partition. It may appoint commissioners to execute the decree, who are required to make an ample report of their proceedings to the court, in which it can be confirmed or set aside. ”

“ The description of the premises should have been precisely like that in the first deed, except the substitution of one-fourth part for one-half, and then there would have been no further controversy. The plaintiff, in his bill, sedulously excluded any admission that he had not a legal title. He alleged that he was remediless at law respecting the subject matter of the bill, to wit: respecting the mistake. The plaintiff never proposed to try his legal title in a bill in equity, and no attempt was made to sustain the bill on that title. ”

“ The purchasers asserted in their answers the superiority of their legal and equitable title, and pleaded that they were bona fide purchasers, and all, except one, also pleaded the statute of limitations. The guardian answered, that he had made the sale in good faith, under a valid decree, and under the belief that his wards were entitled to the estate.
The Circuit Court, upon the pleadings and proofs, dismissed the bill of the plaintiff, and declared in the decree that the defendants had a valid title as bona fide purchasers, not affected by the registered deed from Dunbar to Montague. ”