Parker v. Bennett
Parker v. Bennett
Opinion of the Court
From the facts presented by the master’s report, and the decision by the chief justice of the questions raised upon it, agreed by the parties to be final and conclusive, but a single question remains for the consideration of the court. That question in substance is; whether R. W. Holman, by his deed January 19,1847, to Arthur Pickering, under whom the plaintiff claims, conveyed the right of way in controversy over the land which now belongs to the defendants.
The plaintiff’s estate is known as lot No. 6 of the Primus Hall estate, situated between Southac and Revere Streets in Boston, and accessible by a passage way, not convenient for some purposes, but, so far as the evidence shows, sufficient, leading from Southac Street and appurtenant to the estate. The deed from Holman to Pickering conveyed lot No. 6 by metes and bounds, referring to a recorded plan for a full view
The land of the defendants, over which the plaintiff claims a right of way, is not laid down on the recorded plan as a passage way. It was a strip of land nine feet wide, and extending one hundred feet from Revere Street to the land of the plaintiff, laid out by one Wingate, who owned it in fee, as a passage way for the benefit of lands belonging to him on each side of it. On the 8th of October 1846 Wingate granted one of the lots adjoining it to Levi McLane, and bounded it on the passage way, ■* forever to be kept open,” with a recital that “ said passage way is to be used in common by all abutters thereon, and to be kept open and unobstructed, and in good condition, at their joint expense.” On the 15th of the same October, Wingate granted to Herman K. Towle a right in the passage way as appurtenant to five houses on the easterly side thereof “ for all necessary purposes connected with the five houses,” and also the right of making drains, &c.
On the same 15th of October, Wingate conveyed to Holman, who had purchased lot No.,6 in July preceding, the fee of the passage way, by a deed which described it as “ a certain parcel of land now used as a passage way,” giving its bounda ries, and adding, “ the same being a passage way laid out br
The evidence reported shows that the passage way had been for a long time freely used by the owners and occupants of lot No. 6, before Holman purchased; but without right, and by permission only. From the time when Holman bought it, he allowed his tenants to use it as a passage way to lot No. 6, and laid down water pipes through it from May Street to the houses thereon ; and at the time when Holman conveyed to Pickering, and for ten years afterward, it was constantly used by the occupants of lot No. 6, without objection.
The paroi evidence of Holman’s intention when he purchased of Wingate, upon which it is found as a fact that he purchased the passage way with the purpose of using the same as a way to and from lot No. 6 owned by him, is only competent as explaining the acts done by him while he owned both estates, and before he conveyed to Pickering. It has a legal tendency to prove that the. use of the passage way by his tenants was by intention and design, and not from mere indifference or inadvertence on his part. It is clearly not competent to show by paroi that it was his intention to include a right in the passage way in his grant to Pickering. So far as the paroi evidence tended to show the existing condition of the property at the time of the grant to Pickering, and thus aided in the construction of that grant by showing to what subject matter it applied, it was competent and material; but only to that extent.
We have then to decide whether, under the law as settled in this commonwealth, any right in the passage way passed from Holman to Pickering as appurtenant to the grant of lot No. 6. If it did, it was wholly by implication, because there is nothing expressed in the deed which would include it.
The whole doctrine in relation to grants by implication of easements as appurtenant to a conveyance of land has recently been examined in Carbrey v. Willis, 7 Allen, 364; and we cannot see that, consistently with the rule declared in that case, the claim of the plaintiff in this suit can be supported.
He then sells the principal estate by metes and bounds, without any reference to a right in the passage way in controversy, but with an express grant of an easement in another passage way. His deed recites that the premises conveyed are the same estate conveyed to him by Clark by the deed of July 1846 ; and by that deed no right in the passage way in controversy was ¿neluded. He refers, “for a full view and description of the premises hereby conveyed,” to the recorded plan; and upon that plan no passage way like that which the plaintiff claims is shown. This last consideration is one entitled to great weight. When a plan is referred to, as containing a description of an estate, what appears upon the plan is to be as much regarded, in ascertaining the true description of the estate, and the intent of the parties in making it, as if it was recited in the deed. Morgan v. Moore, 3 Gray, 319. The passage way which the deed describes is shown upon the plan, but the land where a passage way is now claimed is merely marked as land belonging to a third person. As far as the plan can show a negative, it excludes the existence of such a passage way as appurtenant to the estate conveyed. And it is not a way necessary to the enjoyment of the estate conveyed in its condition at the time of the conveyance.
The question reserved must therefore be answered in favor of the defendants.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Edward G. Parker v. Samuel P. Bennett & another
- Status
- Published