George v. Kern
George v. Kern
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This appeal involves the determination of twenty-nine assignments of error. The plaintiff’s statement, material to the questions involved, is as follows: “Whereas, there was an old division fence between the property of the plaintiff and the property of the defendant which
It is clear that the issue thus framed was the location of this old line which had been recognized between the property owners, and the location of the old fence with reference to that line. Plaintiff’s contention was that they were identical. For the purpose of showing that the fence had been recognized by the defendant and his predecessors in title, and the plaintiff and his predecessors in title, as the dividing line, their deeds were offered in evidence showing this line by its course and distance, which, when run by survey, corresponded to the fence line on the ground. The deeds and surveys made therefrom, with the maps and plots, were competent evidence when followed by testimony showing ■the fence to be on the dividing line. They would show recognition and acceptance by the prior owners. In addition to this testimony there is the evidence of witnesses who had known this fence for forty years and upwards, and who fixed its location and position during that time between the two properties. In the .effort -to establish the disputed line between .the plaintiff^
The court was right in declining to permit appellant to cross-examine witness A. A. Zeigenfus as to the notice given through Mr. Freyman. His interest, while to some extent identical with this plaintiff, was not of sufficient importance in the trial of this case to make this notice competent evidence to affect the plaintiff.
Much of the evidence to establish the fact that the fence was recognized by prior owners as the dividing line comes from the existence of the southwest corner of the defendant’s property and the plaintiff’s starting point of the disputed line. It was called throughout the trial as the thirty-five perch corner. The deeds to this defendant and his immediate predecessor in title called for this corner. In an old deed dated 1837, in the defendant’s line of title, it called for a southwestern comer at the end of a thirty-eight perch fine. The defendant could not extend his lines beyond those called for in his own deed to plaintiff’s detriment, unless the lines
In construing the defendant’s deed the court held substantially as we. have stated, and appellant lays too much stress on the court’s remark that “thirty-five perches must be taken as the correct corner,” as being a definite finding of fact. It must be read in connection with other parts of the charge. As stated by the learned president judge: “Now, the first thing to determine is whether the thirty-five or the thirty-eight perch corner is the correct one for starting the northward line.” The existence of the thirty-eight perch corner, whatever 'evidence there was to sustain it, would, of course, be for the jury’s consideration. The existence of this thirty-five perch corner on the ground is evidenced not only from the calls in the deed and the surveys therefrom but from the testimony of witnesses who knew that it had been there, as an established comer for a long period of time.
There was no error in affirming plaintiff’s eighth point as it was a clear presentation of the evidence involved.
Tombler, defendant’s surveyor, made several surveys. He first ran the thirty-eight perch line to what is claimed by the defendant as the thirty-eight perch corner. This was done at a time when the defendant, was settling with one of the owners below the road for a portion of the disputed land. When this settlement was made, in order to arrive at a location on which to build a new fence, Tombler placed his instrument on a line between a point given him by the defendant on the north and this thirty-eight perch corner on the south. From this sight line, without bearings, he directed stakes to be driven for the proposed fence below the road. This fence can be seen from the photograph. This division
The court’s quotation from the testimony of Mr. Tombler with reference to the Hower line (fourteenth assignment) was warranted by the testimony, and the instruction with respect to the slight variations which come from an old fence built on a zigzag line, which might cause the little variations between the fence north and south side of the road, was not an imposition on the defendant’s rights. There being testimony in the case that a monument had been placed on the public road from which a line had been run to plaintiff’s prop
The seventeenth and eighteenth assignments of error complaining of the manner of treating Mr. Hower’s testimony, giving it undue prominence, is' without merit. The same observation may be made of the court’s statement with respect to the testimony of Frank Esch (nineteenth assignment), relative to the concrete post. There was nothing in Mr. George’s acts at that time which would be conclusive or convincing that he accepted this concrete post location as being the line of his property.
Assignments of error twentieth to twenty-eighth, inclusive, treat of various expressions of the court with respect to the testimony of witnesses. We have carefully read the statements complained of and the evidence in connection therewith, and the assignments are without merit.
The court throughout its charge clearly presented the defendant’s theory of the case, and only endeavored to outline to the jury the issue involved and the material evidence bearing upon it.
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.