McCrohan v. Parker
McCrohan v. Parker
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinon of the court.
A bill in equity was filed by appellee as the owner of a plantation known as the Stafford Place, situated
“pretends to have some right to the said several strips of land herein described and owned by your complainant, which casts a doubt, cloud, and suspicion on the title of your complainant; and that, in order that complainant may fully enjoy, possess, and keep his said land free from any and all claims of the defendant, the said doubts, clouds, and suspicions should be removed.”
In the first deed, executed by Mr. Parker to C. L. Dewey, for blocks nine and eight, the following provision appears:
“A condition upon which the deed is given is that there is forever to be left open for public use as one-half of a roadway a strip of land along the west,*734 south and eastern sides of this tract of land hereby conveyed (and being a part thereof) of the width of fifteen feet.”
In another deed to block twelve is this provision:
“C. L.Sl Dewey is to leave open forever for one-half of a public roadway a strip of land fifteen feet wide along the western, southern and eastern sides of block twelve hereby sold him.”
Another deed to E. A. Bolling contains the following:
“There are certain conditions upon the fulfillment of which alone this deed is to stand perfected: First, the payment of the note above described; second, that there shall always be left open as one-half of a roadway a strip of land fifteen feet in width along the western, southern, and eastern borders of the land herein conveyed, being part of the same; third, that I retain the privilege of connecting my plantation fence unto any that may surround the land herein conveyed.”
Still another deed contains the following:
“The further conditions necessary to the perfecting of this deed are that there shall always be left open a strip of land fifteen feet in width all along the eastern and western sides of the land herein conveyed, tlie same to be used as a roadway by myself, by my tenants, or by any one acquiring by or through me after this time possession of land on said Stafford Place, and, further, that I retain and forever possess the right to join the fencing of said Stafford Place to any that may inclose said land conveyed herein.”
Each of said conveyances is based upon a valuable consideration, stated in the deed. The prayer of the bill‘is for a confirmation of the alleged title of complainant to the several fifteen-foot strips of land referred to in the several deeds, as being intended for roadways, and that the alleged claim of defendant be canceled as a cloud upon complainant’s title.
The defendant, by answer, denied the material averments of the bill, and especially denied any title in com
“(1) Because the bill, of complaint filed herein, accepted as true, entitled the complainant to no relief, the bill of complaint and exhibits showing the absolute dedication of the strips of land sued for.
“(2) Because the final decree rendered is erroneous, in that it vested in the complainant an absolute title to the strips of land in controversy, where under no view of the facts and the law was he entitled to more than the right of user thereof.
££(3) Because of the error in the court below in rendering the decree by which a fee-simple title was admitted to be vested in the complainant below in the land set apart for streets or public highways in the deeds of conveyance referred to in the bill of complaint.”
The bill of complaint claims title to and ownership of the several fifteen-foot strips of land designed for road purposes in the several deeds exhibited to the hill. These strips of land were embrace! within the call of the several deeds, and the fee-simple title was conveyed by appellee and vested by the several conveyances in the grantees, Dewey and Bolling, and by mesne conveyances thereafter duly vested in appellant. It was error, therefore, for the court to adjudge appellee as the true, legal and equitable owner of these several strips of land. This suit is not based upon any allegation that the provisions of the several deeds hereinabove copied in full constituted a condition subsequent, or upon any claim of a forfeiture. Complainant simply laid claim to the title, and the exhibits to the hill are at variance
The complainant below seems to claim title in his bill to a thirty foot strip of land adjoining one of the fifteen foot strips in question, and it is uncertain whether the bill seeks confirmation of title to said thirty-foot strip, to which appellant lays no claim. "We think it proper to reverse and set aside the decree below and to remand the case.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.