Stetson v. Dow
Stetson v. Dow
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of tort to recover compensation of the defendant for the damage caused by his forcibly entering upon and ploughing up the soil of the plaintiff’s close. The defendant in his answer sets forth and avers that, at the time of the doing of the several acts stated and complained of in the declaration, he had and was the owner of a right of way' in a certain part of said close; and that all he did upon it,
Several questions of law are presented to the consideration of the court in the bill of exceptions ; but upon examination it is very obvious, from the statement of the case, that the rights of the parties in relation to the matter in controversy between them are to be determined upon a proper construction of the deeds under which they respectively claim to derive title to an interest in the “ avenue ” mentioned in them.
By the deed of Stetson and Newcomb, assignees of Benjamin V. French, two lots of land are conveyed to the plaintiff, the first of which is described in part as bounding on “ an avenue laid out on a plan of lands of the Hon. B. V. French, made by Lemuel Humphrey, October 17th 1849.” The other tract conveyed is described as bounding in part “by said avenue.”
It is now well settled that when a grantor conveys land bounding on a street or way, he and his heirs are estopped to deny the existence of such street or way; and the grantee acquires by the deed a perpetual easement or right of passage on, upon and over it, from the full enjoyment of which he can never afterwards be excluded. And this is a right, not only coextensive with the land conveyed, but for the entire distance of the way, as it is then actually laid out or clearly indicated and prescribed. Tufts v. Charlestown, 2 Gray, 271. Thomas v. Poole, 7 Gray, 83. Loring v. Otis, 7 Gray, 563. Rodgers v. Parker, 9 Gray, 445. The plaintiff therefore by his deed acquired a right of way in the avenue as it was laid out in the aforementioned plan made by Humphrey ; and on recurring to the plan and the statements on the bill of exceptions, it appears that this avenue extends from Adams Street by or over
It became of course necessary, in applying this description to the land in question, to ascertain what, avenue was in fact laid down on the plan made by Humphrey. This was fully disclosed by the evidence produced upon the trial, which was clearly admissible for that purpose. Allen v. Bates, 6 Pick. 460. Waterman v. Johnson, 13 Pick. 261. Breck, a surveyor, testified that before the sale the plan of Humphrey was put into his hands by the assignees of French, who were the plaintiff’s grantors, and that by their direction, after having made some additional surveys, he marked out upon it the lots and avenue in pencil. That was the laying out of the avenue on the plan of Humphrey, mentioned in the deed. The plan thus amended and prepared was sent to the lithographers, who returned one hundred copies of it, of which the plan produced in evidence upon the trial is one. This latter plan therefore shows exactly of what the avenue consisted, and consequently what and where was the right of way to which the plaintiff became entitled by the conveyance.
But there is a further clause in the same deed, by virtue of which the plaintiff claims to have acquired, not only a right of way in the avenue, so far as it is coextensive with the land conveyed to him, but also an absolute title thereto in fee to the exclusion of the grantors and of all persons claiming title under them to lands bounding on any other part of the avenue. It is in these words: “ Meaning and intending to convey to the said Amos W. Stetson all the land laid out as said avenue, so far as the same is connected with or contiguous to the said land above described. And if the said avenue is finally opened or laid out on said plan, by the agreement of the owners of all the land, then the same is to be open and free to all the abutters thereon from Adams to Elm Streets.” This clause distinctly recognizes the existence of the avenue laid
Such being the condition of the estates and the title of the respective parties owning lands bounding on the avenue, the assignees of French had undoubtedly both the power and the right to convey a right of way in it to the defendant, together with the lots described in the deed subsequently made to him. And this was done; for it is a part of the description of the lots conveyed that they bounded on the avenue, and this, as has already been shown, necessarily imported not only that the grantors had such right of way themselves, but also that they conveyed it to the defendant.
The parol evidence of what took place at the auction sale, having plainly been produced and admitted for the purpose of showing what interest and estate was conveyed by the deeds to the parties in this action, was manifestly inadmissible. But this, as well as the several other questions arising upon the bill of exceptions, must now, in reference to the verdict which was
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Amos W. Stetson v. Charles H. Dow
- Status
- Published