Mannerback v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Mannerback v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The first ground upon which the appellant plants his request for a reversal, is alleged error committed in the construction put by the court below upon certain language in the deed from Bitting to Spang. The clause is, “ excepting and forever reserving the graveyard on the lands hereby conveyed at all times hereafter to enter thereon without hindrance or denial of the said Daniel Spang, his heirs and assigns.” If this be an exception, it saved to the grantor the fee of the land used as a graveyard. If it be a reservation, the fee passed to the grantee. If a reservation, the plaintiff has no right of recovery, since the reservation would be but of an easement or incorporeal hereditament which will not ordinarily support an action of ejectment: Caldwell v. Fulton, 31 Pa. 483 ; Hancock v. McAvoy, 151 Pa. 464. The technical distinction between an exception and a reservation is well marked. The former is always of part of the thing granted and is the whole of the part excepted. The latter is the creation of a right or interest, which had no prior existence as such, in the thing or part of the thing granted: Kister v. Reeser, 98 Pa. 5; Whitaker v. Brown, 46 Pa. 197; Moffitt v. Lytle, 165 Pa. 173; 6 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law (2d ed.), p. 515.
The appellant further contends that Samuel Fix (the executors of whose will are of the parties plaintiff) waived any wrongful entry by the railroad company by bringing suit for damages for depreciation in value of his land resulting from the construction of the railroad, thereby disentitling himself, and those claiming under him, to recovery in ejectment. The record of the suit referred to seems to have been offered in evidence. The statement of claim is printed in the paper-books before us,
The fifth assignment (which alone remains undisposed of) relates to a matter of fact which was submitted by the court to the jury upon evidence which warranted such submission. We find nothing to sustain the assignments of error and the judgment is therefore affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mannerback v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Deed — Exception—Reservation—Graveyard. An exception in a deed is always of part of the thing granted, and is the whole of the part excepted. A reservation is the creation of aright or interest, which had no prior existence as such in the thing or part of the thing granted. A clause in a deed “ excepting and forever reserving the graveyard on the lands hereby conveyed at all times hereafter to enter thereon without hinderance or denial of the said Daniel Spang, his heirs and assigns ” constitutes an exception saving to the grantor the fee of the land used as a graveyard, and does not as a reservation create merely an easement in the land. Ejectment — Res adjudieata — Mistaken form of action. In an action of ejectment to recover land wrongfully occupied by a railroad company, the plaintiff will not be barred from recovery by the fact that he had previously brought a suit for damages against the railroad company for depreciation in the value of his land, where it appears that the verdict which the plaintiff had recovered in the previous suit had been set aside by the court on the ground that the form of the action was mistaken.