Post Mortgage & Land Co. v. Davis
Post Mortgage & Land Co. v. Davis
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action of ejectment brought to recover possession of a tract of land of about five hundred acres, included in a large tract of about sixteen thousand acres, in the townships of Hamilton and Weymouth in Atlantic county.
The case was tried at the Atlantic Circuit, resulting in a verdict in favor of the defendant. A rule to show cause was granted by the trial judge. The plaintiff specifies six grounds upon which it relies for a new-trial. First and second, that the verdict is against the evidence and the weight of the evidence. Bach of the parties claims to hold the legal paper title. The controversy relates exclusively to the paper title and not to any title derived by adverse possession.
The plaintiff claims to trace its title back to the council of the West Jersey Proprietors. Numerous documents, deeds
The next insistence is that the trial court erred in admitting in evidence a paper-writing, offered by the defendant, which was executed by John Ford and Samuel Richards in 1816. This Samuel Richards stood in the same right that Charles Shoemaker and his associates did. The paper-writing recites, that “in consideration of a better business feeling and to avoid future litigation between us, do quit-claim, establish and agree with each other forever,” &c. This paper seems to be an agreement, between the parties, fixing the boundary line between their respective properties. It is endorsed a
There is no merit in the next point, viz., the court erred in allowing counsel for the defendant to read this exhibit to the jury. If the exhibit was competent evidence, it was of course proper to permit it to be read to the jury. It is next contended that it was error to permit the defendant to put in evidence what purported to be a copy of the referee’s report and rule for judgment, endorsed by the clerk of this court as a true copy, in the Shoemaker-Ford ejectment suit, on the ground that the original should have been produced or its loss proved. This copy was a certified copy of the report, under the hand of the clerk and the seal of the court. This certification of the copy was made on April 8th, 1806. It was properly admitted as a certified copy of the record or of a part of the record. Moreover, the case shows that the report itself had disappeared from the files of the clerk’s office. It is further claimed, which is the last insistence, that it was error for the trial court to admit in evidence a non recorded deed, made by one James Davis to John Eord, dated September 25th, 1813. The fact that the deed was not recorded did. not destroy its evidential value. The non-recorded deed is only void as against parties claiming under another conveyance from the same grantor, and who took without notice of the unrecorded instrument. Comp. Stat., p. 1553, § 54. In the present case the plaintiff does not claim any interest under the Ford title. The defendant was entitled to prove the unrecorded deed, to trace his own right, through John Ford. The land in the Davis deed had originally be
The rule to show cause is discharged.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.