Michigan Supreme Court, 1907

Starkweather v. Chatfield

Michigan Supreme Court · Decided September 20, 1907 · Blair, Carpenter, Grant, Montgomery, Ostrander

149 Mich. 443; 112 N.W. 1071; 1907 Mich. LEXIS 691

Cases that cite this one

5 later published cases cite this decision.

Bakker v. Fellows (Mich. 1908)
Schultz v. Consolidated School District No. 1 (Minn. 1918)
Dean v. State (Fla. 1917)
Kelly v. Clements (Mich. 1913)
Minthorn v. Haines (Mich. 1912)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Ostrander, J.

Eleven persons signed the application *444for the drain (2 Comp. Laws, § 4319), ten of them being freeholders if the vendee in a land contract, in possession, is a freeholder. At the common law (1 Bouvier’s Dictionary, p. 693, tit., Estate of Freehold) and by statute (3 Comp. Laws, § 8787) estates of inheritance are freehold estates. The estate of the vendee in a land contract, in possession, is an estate of inheritance. Wing v. McDowell, Walk. Ch. (Mich.) 175; House v. Dexter, 9 Mich. 246; Fitzhugh v. Maxwell, 34 Mich. 138; Bowen v. Lansing, 129 Mich. 117 (57 L. R. A. 643). See, also, City of Marquette v. Land Co., 132 Mich. 130.

The decree is affirmed, with costs to defendant.

Carpenter, Grant, Blair, and Montgomery, JJ., concurred.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.