Merriam v. Willis
Merriam v. Willis
Opinion of the Court
This bill of exceptions shows that the plaintiff failed to prove a right to maintain, against these defendants, this action for breaking and entering his close. The evidence showed that the sole title to the close was in Cynthia Willis, and there was no evidence of the plaintiff’s right to any possession thereof. Whatever right or title thereto the plaintiff may once have had, he quitclaimed it to her in October 1849, and she conveyed it to Brastow in 1852, and took back a mortgage from him, which she foreclosed in October 1857. And though the plaintiff continued in possession from 1849 until he was removed by her orders, after she had foreclosed the mortgage, yet the terms on Which he had possession, for any part of that time, do no.
The gist of this action is injury to the possession of real estate, and the alleged trespass on person and personal property is, in law, only aggravation of that injury. Unless the breaking and entering of the close of the plaintiff is proved, the action is not maintainable for the matter of aggravation; but damages therefor are to be sought in a count framed for that single purpose. Bennett v. Allcott, 2 T. R. 168. Ropps v. Barker, 4 Pick. 239. Robbins v. Sawyer, 3 Gray, 376, 377.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Abel H. Merriam v. Cynthia Willis & others
- Status
- Published