Chandler v. Thurston
Chandler v. Thurston
Opinion of the Court
The contract of Bragg in taking the land described, to cultivate, and to take one half of the produce as a compensation for his labor, may be regarded either as a contract to perform labor on the land of the plaintiff remaining in his own possession, and to receive his pay in produce ; or, as a hiring of the land for a term of time, rendering a rent payable in produce.
Regarding the contract as a letting of the land for the sea
If Bragg was a tenant, having in that character the possession, this holding resulted by implication from the contract, and not by any actual letting to hire. The contract on his part was to cultivate the land and harvest the crop. He must necessarily for this purpose have access to the land, and whether such right of access was a license or a tenancy, in the view we have taken, is not material to the present question. Taking it to be a tenancy, it was so, by implication, for a particular object and purpose, and must therefore be deemed to be limited to the accomplishment of that purpose, and to extend only to such possession and for such time as might be necessary, pursuant to the terms of the contract, to raise and harvest the crop. But as Bragg, before the accomplishment of this purpose, before completing the labor stipulated for, absconded, without making any provision for its completion, we are all of opinion that this act amounted to conclusive evidence of a determination of his will, and put an end to his tenancy. From that time, the plaintiff was in as of his former estate, the property in the growing crop followed the interest in the soil, and was wholly vested in the plaintiff.
Whether therefore the contract of Bragg be regarded as a contract for services on the plaintiff’s land, payable in a certain share of the crop after harvest, or a letting to hire by the plaintiff to Bragg, we are of opinion, that upon the facts stated, Bragg had no interest in the property at the time of the attachment ; that in either view of the contract, the plaintiff was in the lawful possession of the premises, at the time the defendant entered to attach the property ; that the action of trespass quare clausum fregit is well maintained ; and therefore that there must be judgment on the verdict.
See Foot v. Colvin, 3 Johns. R. 216; Demott v. Hagerman, 8 Cowen, 220 ; Fort Ann v. Kingsbury, 14 Johns. R. 365.
Chitty on Contr (4th Am. ed.) 458, note 1, and cases cited ; Hair v. Bell, 6 Vermont R. 35 ; Norris v Windsor, 3 Fairfield, 293 ; Hollingshead v. Martier, 13 Wendell, 276 ; Chitty on Contr. (4th Am. ed.) 451, note 3.
See Hilliard’s Abr, 185.
See Chitty on Contr. (4th Am. ed.) 292.
See Lewis v. Lyman, 22 Pick. 437; 4 Kent’s Comm. (3d ed.) 118,119; Little v. Palister, 3 Greenleaf, 6.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Nathaniel Chandler versus John Thurston Junior
- Status
- Published