Freer v. Stotenbur
Freer v. Stotenbur
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought to recover the value of certain stone taken and removed by the defendant from lands owned by the plaintiff’s testatrix, Cynthia
The following facts and conclusions of law were found by the referee who tried the action, to wit:
First. That, on' the 30th day of January, 1839, Samuel Watkins, late of the county of Ohemung, deceased, being the owner in fee of certain lands in said county, executed and delivered to the plaintiff, John T. Durkee, and one Asher S. Durkee, an indenture of lease, whereby he devised the same to said Asher S. and John T. for the period of twenty years from the first day of April, 1839; that said premises consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five (125) acres of land, which were leased for-agricultural purposes, and embraced the locality from which stone were taken by the defendant as hereinafter stated; that, on the 7th day of February, 1846, the said Asher S. Durkee assigned all his interest in said lease and in the premises to said John T. Durkee; that, on or before the first day of April, 1839, said lessees took possession of the devised premises, and occupied the same until the assignment to said John T. Durkee, and the said John'T. has since occupied as such lessee to the time when this action was commenced.
Second. That said William Watkins died, on the 10th day of May, 1851, seized in fee of said premises, and leaving a last will and testament, whereby he devised in fee all his real estate, and bequeathed all his personal property to his wife, Oynthia Ann Watkins; that said will was duly proved as a will of real and personal estate, admitted to probate, and recorded by the surrogate of Chemung county, on or before the 14th day of October, 1851, and letters testamentary were granted thereon to Hiram Gray,
Third. That said Cynthia Ann Watkins intermarried with George G. Freer about the month of February, 1852; that this action was commenced about the 9th July, 1853, by said Freer and wife, and the plaintiff, John T. Durkee; that since the action was commenced, said Cynthia Ann Freer died, leaving a last will and testament, which has been duly proved and admitted to probate; that letters testamentary thereon have been issued to said George G. Freer and to Orlando Hurd, the executors named therein, and an order has been made substituting the said executors as plaintiffs in this action.
Fourth. That about the 7th of July, 1853, and before the commencement of 'this action, the said Cynthia Ann Freer by an instrument in writing, assigned to the plaintiff John T. Durkee, an equal undivided half of all .claims for stone theretofore taken from said premises, and to all the stone so removed, by whomsoever taken, in which transfer said George G. Freer joined and gave- his consent thereto; that on or about the 6th of February, 1852, said "Hiram Gray and Amasa Dana, two of the executors named in the will of said Watkins, by an instrument in writing, duly acknowledged and recorded (in which they recite that they are the only executors who ha've united in making an inventory, that they have fully executed the trusts created by said will), assigned and transferred to said Cynthia Ann Watkins in consideration of the premises therein recited, and of one dollar, all the personal property and estate of the said Samuel Watkins contained in said inventory, and all other personal property whatever belonging to said estate, or to them as executors, and by which they also authorized her to demand and collect in her own name all of the moneys, debts and contracts belonging to said estate, and to them as executors thereof, and which were devised and bequeathed to her.
Sixth. That on or about the 14th July, 1852, the . plaintiff, John T. Durkee, recovered a judgment in this court against the defendant, for six cents damages, and $115.07 costs, in an action commenced by said Durkee, by virtue of his right as the tenant of Doct. Watkins, in which action the defendant justified under the corporation sale and the license from Cook as the grantee of Mr.
He further found as conclusions of law: First. That the plaintiffs are the persons who are entitled to recover whatever damages the defendant is liable to pay for the removal and sale of said stone, as aforesaid, both before and after the death of said Samuel Watkins.
Second. That by the judgment aforesaid, it was deter-. mined that said corporation sale was void, and did not protect the defendant, and that such adjudication is binding upon the defendant in this action, and that the recovery of six cents damages by said John T. Durkee, forms no bar to the action of the plaintiffs.
Third. That the said sale by the corporation of the village of Havana to Tracy, was not in accordance with the requirements of the statute, and vested no title or right in said Tracy, and that said Oook acquired no title by the deed from Tracy, and the defendant was not justified in the removal of said stone by the license he derived from said Cook.
Fourth. That the facts of this ease do not show an adverse possession on the part of said Tracy, and those claiming under him as against the plaintiff in this action.
Fifth. That the plaintiffs are entitled to recover for the stone so removed as aforesaid, their value in the quarry, which is the injury to the inheritance, and not the value after their removal and being converted into building material, for the purposes of sale, and that the plaintiffs are entitled to interest upon said amount from the time ’ of the commencement of this action, to wit: July 7, 1853. Upon these facts the referee gave judgment for the plaintiffs for the .value of the said stone, $412.50, and interest amounting to $216.06, in all, $629.06, and the judgment thereon was reversed by the General Term of the Supreme Court, and a new trial ordered. The judgment was not
This action is maintained under the provisions of the Revised Statutes, which declare that a person seized of an estate in remainder or reversion, may maintain an action of waste or trespass for any injury done to the inheritance,; notwithstanding any intervening estate for life or years." 3 R. S., 5th ed., p. 39, § 8; Van Deusen v. Forney, 29 N. Y., 9; Schermerhorn v. Buell, 4 Denio, 422. The reversionee has therefore clearly sustained an injury to the value of the stone taken and carried away, unless the position assumed by the defendant be correct, namely, that the stone belonged to the tenant or lessee, in which event no action can be maintained by the reversionee for their possession. This ground is sought to be maintained upon the finding of the referee, that stone had been taken from, said ledge, that is, the ledge upon the premises of the reversionee, at various periods for thirty years past at different points along the same, and the authority of Saunders’ case, 5 Coke, 12, and the various cases in which the doctrine there laid down has been affirmed, are invoked as sustaining it.
Assuming, therefore, that this quarry or ledge was open at the date of the lease to Durkee, does it follow, upon
In Saunders’ case, he brought an action of waste against Man wood, assignee of the lessee in the tenements, for waste done in digging sea coals, and on great deliberation it was resolved, That if a man hath land in part of which there is a coal mine open, and he leases the land to one for life or for years, the lessee may dig in it, for inasmuch as the mine is open at the time, &o., and he leases all the land, it shall be intended that the intent is as general as his lease is, namely, that he shall take the profit of all the land and by consequence of the mine in it.
Now it is seen that the principle of this case is inapplicable to that now under consideration. No such intendment can arise in this case, as was found in that, 'for here the land was leased for a particular purpose or object, and by the express terms of the lease, its enjoyment by the lease, was limited to the defined use, namely, for agricultural purposes. It cannot therefore be intended that under the lease to Durkee, he should take the profit of all the land, and of the quarries and mines upon it. This estate and interest were limited and defined, and he took therein only what was necessary for its use and enjoyment for agricultural purposes, and the intendment which the case might raise when the lease contained no specification or restriction, as to the use of the demised premises, is rebutted in this case, by the intendment made on the lease at the time of its execution, and which must be deemed and taken as part thereof, namely, the authorization by the lessor, that the lessees might get or sell stone off the premises described in the lease, by yielding to the lessor one-half of the stone sold by them.
•This position is enforced and illustrated by the case of
As to that portion of the stone taken by defendant, before the death of Watkins, the deviser of plaintiffs’ testatrix, the right thereto was assigned to Mrs. Freer by the executors of Watkins, and could be rightfully recovered in this action.
The only question, therefore, remaining, is whether the defendant showed any title to the premises from which the stone were taken. He justifies the taking and conversion of the stone on the ground that he had such title. That title was derived through a sale by the trustees of the village of Havana to pay an assessment for the grading and improving of Steuben street, in said village, upon which street said premises were bounded; that such assessment not being paid or collected, the trustees, claiming to act under the authority of' the charter of said •village, proceeded to sell the same to pay said assessment; that at such sale, the premises from which said stone were
The order granting a new trial, should be reversed, and judgment on the report of the referee affirmed with costs.
All concur.
Order reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.