3.5 PHB page 183 - "A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature in a heavily obscured area effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix A)."
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area, which blocks vision and also inflicts the blinded condition. By RAW, you can't see someone coming through the dark with a torch. This was a widely known rules flub back on the WotC boards when 3.5 was hot. Obviously, tables should just use common sense instead.