Abbott v. Frazier

134 N.E. 635, 240 Mass. 586, 1922 Mass. LEXIS 843
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 134 N.E. 635 (Abbott v. Frazier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abbott v. Frazier, 134 N.E. 635, 240 Mass. 586, 1922 Mass. LEXIS 843 (Mass. 1922).

Opinion

Braley, J.

The plaintiffs and the defendant own contiguous parcels of land to which they derive title by mesne conveyances from the S. Blackinton Woolen Company. But the duly recorded deeds dated January 23 and February 28, 1888, from the company to Alice P. Sayre under whom the plaintiffs claim, having antedated the deed of July 22, 1902, to Thomas Fleming, who conveyed to the defendant, the questions for decision are, whether the description in the deeds to Sayre included the strip, title to which is in controversy, and, if included, whether this title has passed to the plaintiffs.

It appeared that, the deed of January 23, 1888, having contained misdescriptions, the quitclaim deed of February 28, 1888, was given to correct the errors. The description in this deed in [591]*591so far as material is as follows: "Beginning at the northeast corner of land of James R. Reynolds, on the southerly side of Main Street, running through the village of Blackinton, from . . . North Adams to Williamstown, . . . thence running southerly, one hundred thirty-nine (139) feet to the bank of the Mill Pond, so called, of the grantor, thence in a line parallel with said Main Street, three hundred and seventeen (317) feet, to a stake and stones, thence running northerly, one hundred thirty-nine (139) feet, to said Main Street, thence westerly along said Main Street, to the place of beginning.” While the description is free from ambiguity, it is plain that "Main Street” is a boundary or monument within the rule stated in Temple v. Benson, 213 Mass. 128, 132, and cases there collated, and paroi evidence was admissible to show, and the jury could find, “that in 1888 and from that time to 1895 Main Street, as then used between those dates, was a straight street and that in the year 1895, the course of said street was changed from a straight street to a curved street and that it has so existed and been so used continuously from 1895 .to the present time.” Clark v. Munyan, 22 Pick. 410, 416. Temple v. Benson, supra.

The defendant however “claimed that . . . Main Street at the place indicated had always been curved, continuously from 1888 to the present time and introduced evidence tending to sustain said claim.” The trial judge without objection or exception submitted the following question to the jury: “Was the line of. the highway upon which the land conveyed to Alice P. Sayre by Blackinton Woolen Company by deeds dated January 23, 1888, and February 28, 1888, straight, or was it at that time curved as' represented on a plan marked ‘H’?” And the jury answered¡ “that the line of the street, in the year 1888 was straight.”

The alteration of Main Street in 1895 by the municipality whereby it was changed from a straight line to a slight curve without any land being taken could not deprive Alice P. Sayre of the premises conveyed by the grant of the company. It is obvious that, the line being straight when she acquired title, she was seised in fee of the strip. The northeast corner of the land of James R. Reynolds and “the easterly line of” Reynolds’ land were not in dispute, and the words “Main Street,” “West Main Street” and “ Massachusetts Avenue ” are different names of the same highway.

[592]*592The descriptions in the deeds of Alice P. Sayre to Emily M. Reed, dated respectively October 7, 1918, and October 8, 1918, and October 22, 1918, read as follows: “Beginning at the northeast corner of land of James R. Reynolds, on the southerly side of Main Street, running through the village of Blackinton from said North Adams to Williamstown, in said county of Berkshire, thence running southerly on the easterly line of said Reynolds, one hundred thirty-nine feet (139 ft.) to the bank of the Mill Pond, thence easterly in a line parallel with said Main Street, eighty-three feet (83 ft.) to a stake and stones, thence running northerly in a line parallel with said Reynolds’ east line, one hundred thirty-nine feet (139 ft.) to the southerly bounds of said Main Street, thence westerly on the southerly bounds of said Main Street, eighty-three feet (83 ft.) to the place of beginning. Being westerly portion, as herein described of land deeded to me by S. Blackinton Woolen Company ... to which reference is had.”

“Beginning at a point in the southerly side of Main Street, in the village of Blackinton, said point being eighty-three feet (83 ft.) easterly from James R. Reynolds’ northeast corner, thence southerly in a line parallel with said Reynold’s east line, one hundred thirty-nine (139 ft.) to a stake and stones, thence easterly in a line parallel with said Main Street, forty-three feet (43 ft.) to a stake and stones, thence northerly one hundred thirty-nine feet (139 ft.) to the southerly bounds of said Main Street, thence westerly on the southerly bounds of said Main Street, forty-three (43 ft.) to the place of beginning. Being a portion, as herein described, of land deeded to me by deed of S. Blackinton Woolen Company, to which reference is had, at the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds.”

“Beginning at a point in the southerly bounds of Main Street, running through the village of Blackinton from said North Adams to Williamstown, in said County of Berkshire, said point being one hundred twenty-six feet (126 ft.) easterly from the northeast corner of land of James R. Reynolds, thence southerly in a line parallel with said Reynolds’ easterly line, one hundred thirty-nine feet (139 ft.) to a stake and stones, thence easterly in a line parallel with said Main Street, one hundred ninety-one feet (191 ft.) to stake and stones, thence northerly one hundred thirty-nine feet (139 ft.) to the southerly bounds of said Main Street, and thence [593]*593westerly one hundred ninety-one feet to the place of beginning. Meaning and intending to convey the easterly portion, as herein described, of land conveyed to me by S. Blackinton Woolen Company. Refer to Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds, book 169 page 546.”

It being undisputed that at the date of these deeds Main Street had become a curved street, the defendant contends as matter of law that the reference in these deeds to Main Street must be held to be Main Street as it contemporaneously existed unless there is something to control the presumption. But Alice P. Sayre by the first deed conveyed the “westerly portion, as herein described of land deeded to me by S. Blackinton Woolen Company ... to which reference is had.” And by the second deed “a portion, as herein described, of land deeded to me by deed of S. Blackinton Woolen Company, to which reference is had, at the Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds.” The third and last deed recites in the granting clause, “Meaning and intending to convey the easterly portion, as herein described, of land conveyed to me by S. Blackinton Woolen Company. Refer to Northern Berkshire Registry of Deeds, book 169 page 546.” If the defendant’s contention is sound, the grantor by these deeds conveyed all the land granted to her by the company except the strip in dispute. It is settled that the intention of the parties as expressed by all the terms of the grant is the true canon of interpretation. Gray v. Kelley, 194 Mass. 533. The deeds may be read together. Clap v. Draper, 4 Mass. 266. Watson v. Boylston, 5 Mass. 411, 417. Lipsky v. Heller, 199 Mass. 310, 315. And the references to the title deed of Alice P. Sayre were a material part of each conveyance.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
134 N.E. 635, 240 Mass. 586, 1922 Mass. LEXIS 843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abbott-v-frazier-mass-1922.