Wright v. Willoughby
Wright v. Willoughby
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
In this suit plaintiff alleges, as a first cause of action, title to the tract of land described in the complaint and his right to recover possession from the defendant; and, as a second cause of action, that “on or about the 22d day of February, 1904, while 'he was in the quiet and peaceable possession of said piece or parcel of laud, 'having the same inclosed by a' substantial plank fence, the defendants, in a -high-handed manner and with great show of force, and with a multitude of people acting as their agents, the defendant T. C. Willoughby also claiming to be acting as trustee, under an alleged deed from his wife, Ella F. Willoughby, to 'him, which is recorded in the office of the clerk of said county, entered on said strip of land in the night time, and wantonly, maliciously and unlawfully tore down said fence and plowed up plaintiff’s oats, which were planted on said strip of land, to plaintiff’s damage five thousand dollars.”
If the complaint really set up two independent causes of action, the position taken in the demurrer would be unassailable. Bor no principle of pleading is better settled than that each cause of -action must stand or fall on its own allegations, without reference to the allegations to be found in the statement of another cause of action. Hammond v. R. R. Co., 15 S. C., 27; Latimer v. Sullivan, 30 S. C., 111, 8 S. E., 639; Iseman v. McMillan, 36 S. C., 27, 15 S. E., 336; Theratt v. Mining Co., 49 S. C., 95, 26 S. E., 270; Harman v. Harman, 54 S. C., 100, 31 S. E., 881; Hickson v. Harly, 62 S. C., 42, 39 S. E., 782. In this case there is nothing whatever to' identify the land without reference to the statement of the first alleged cause of action.
But while the complaint contains in form- two causes of action, in reality only one is stated. Taking the complaint *441 as true, only one primary right of the plaintiff is alleged, namely, the right of undisturbed possession, growing out of ownership of the land. Only one primary wrong of defendant is 'alleged, namely, the deprivation of the plaintiff of the right of possession. The right of the plaintiff to have damages for the fraudulent and violent invasion of his primary right of possession is a subordinate right included in the-primary right of possession. The one primary wrong of the defendants was their deprivation of the plaintiff of his rightful possession. The alleged violent and malicious breaking of the plaintiff’s fence and seizure of possession from plaintiff were only methods employed in accomplishing the primary wrong, and are included in it. Only one primary right and its invasion being stated in- the complaint, the complaint contains only one cause of action. For this reason, there was no foundation for the demurrer. DuBose v. Kell, 72 S. C., 208, 51 S. E., 692; Pomeroy’s Code Remedies, Sec. 455.
The main deed to defendants called for a boundary on the “east by N. E. R. R. Co. of S. C.” If this be construed to mean the line of the railroad right of way, then the deed under which the defendant claimed embraced the land in dispute. But we think the Circuit Judg'e was right in instructing the jury that the words used meant the railroad itself and not any lands or right of way of the railroad company. That this was the true meaning is made more obvious when it is observed the north, south and west boundaries are all given as “lands” of different parties, while the boundary on the east is not the lands nor right of way of the railroad company, but the railroad itself. *442 Besides, it seems not disputed that Braveboy, the grantor, owned the fee in the strip of land, sixty-five feet wide, held by the railroad as a right of way, and the presumption is thai he intended to convey and not retain the narrow strip of sixty-five feet west of the railroad track, which would be of little, if any, use to him. Church v. Stiles (Vt.), 10 Atl., 674.
While this w'as the true construction of the deed, the evh dence as to location1 of lines by the surveyors, under any agreement or understanding of the parties, was competent to show settlement of any dispute about the line by the adoption of an agreed line different from that which we have shown Braveboy or the other plaintiff was entitled to insist on under the terms of the deed. But it was the duty of the Circuit Judge to construe the deed as written, and no construction put upon it by defendants or their grantors alone, not assented to nor acquiesced in by the other parties concerned, could avail against the plaintiff. Coates & Co. v. Early, 46 S. C., 220, 24 S. E., 305. Whether there was ever such agreed line was a question of fact, which was decided by the verdict adversely to the defendants.
The judgment of this Court is, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.
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