Owensboro & Nashville Railroad v. Griffith
Owensboro & Nashville Railroad v. Griffith
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion op the court. '
The appellees, January 20, 1869, owned a large body of land in Daveiss county, immediately outside the city of Owensboro. This land is crossed by the Owensboro & Nashville Railroad — then the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad — and appellees being desirous of securing the depot for Owensboro on said land, which, as they believed, would enhance the value of their remaining land, they granted to the appellant the right to the possession — not the fee — to three acres and a fraction of an acre of said land. The contention of the appellant is, that it had the right to remove the depot and hold the possession of the ground for other railroad purposes (switching, etc., being the uses), notwithstanding it had removed .the depot about a mile to another part of the city. The granting clause is as follows; “ That the party of the first part, for and in the consideration that the second party has, and does hereby agree to locate the Owensboro depot of the said road on the ground hereinafter mentioned, have granted, and by these presents do grant, to the said party of the second part, for the use of said depot and machine shops and other railroad purposes, the following parcel
As said, the appellees being the owners of a large landed estate adjoining Owensboro, and hoping that if the railroad depot was located on a part of it that that fact would invite enterprise in that direction and cause their remaining land to be enhanced in value, they granted the possessory right to said piece of land to the appellant upon the sole consideration that it would erect a depot building thereon; and it would follow, as a matter of course, that the possessory right thus granted was not to last longer than said piece of ground was used as a depot ground, for the consideration of the possessory grant was the erection of a depot on the land ; and it follows, as a matter of course, that if the consideration ceased, the
But the grantors, not willing to leave their rights in this regard to construction merely, stipulated that this possessory grant was “ for the use of said depot, machine shops and other railroad purposes.” This language is explicit, that the sole consideration of the possessory grant was the building of the depot and its use as such upon said ground ; and the latter expression in the clause quoted, “machine shops and other railroad purposes,” was not an additional consideration for the possessory grant, but as limiting the use of the ground to railroad purposes alone. The habendum further shows that the erection of a depot on the ground and its continuing use as a depot was the sole consideration of the possessory grant, and the other uses to which the ground might be applied were merely privileges that might be used in conjunction with its use as depot, and not independently of that use. The habendum reads : “ To have and to hold said parcel of ground for the use of said railroad depot and other railroad purposes, such as they (it) may deem proper, to the said party of the second part, as long as the same shall be used for said purposes.” Here, again, the distinct declarations, the first of which, evidently referring to the consideration for the grant, that, the appellant is to hold the parcel of ground for the Use of the depot, and the other referring to the privilege-to use the land for such other railroad purposes as the appellant might deem proper, are repeated.
The next clauses are : “ But in the event the said railroad shall discontinue the said point as a depot, and said-grant shall no longer be useful for said purposes,” etc.,,
As intimated, to allow the contention of the appellant, a conflict between the granting clause and the habendum would be presented, and in such case the rule is well settled that the habendum must yield, unless a contrary intention appears, and such intention thus appearing, the habendum must control. As said, such intention does not appear in this case, but the contrary intention is manifest.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.