Bransfield v. Wallace

162 N.W. 73, 195 Mich. 41, 1917 Mich. LEXIS 650
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1917
DocketDocket No. 81
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 162 N.W. 73 (Bransfield v. Wallace) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bransfield v. Wallace, 162 N.W. 73, 195 Mich. 41, 1917 Mich. LEXIS 650 (Mich. 1917).

Opinion

Stone, J.

This is an action of ejectment to.recover the possession of lots 1 and 2 of section 2, town 11 N., rangé 16 W., being in the county of Muskegon, Mich. The case is brought to this court by the plaintiff upon writ of error to the circuit court for the county of [42]*42Muskegon, where it was tried by the court without a jury. Written findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed, and a judgment was entered for the defendants.

The plaintiff is the owner in fee simple, by patent from the United States bearing date August 30, 1909, of the premises above described. The defendants are the owners of lot 3 of the same section. The land in issue was surveyed by the United States government in 1837. This record does not show when the United States conveyed lot 3. The findings of fact and conclusions of law of the trial court were as follows:

“Findings of Fact.
“I. Plaintiff is the owner in fee of lots 1 and 2 of section 2, town 11 N., range 16 W., having acquired title thereto by patent from the government of the United States of date August 30, 1909, wherein the lands conveyed are described as follows:
‘ ‘Lots one and two of section two in township eleven north of range sixteen west of the Michigan meridian, Michigan, containing one hundred one and twenty-four hundredths acres, according to the official plat of the survey of said lands returned to the General Land Office by the Surveyor General.’
“II. Defendant is the owner of lot 3 of said section 2, town 11 N., range 16 W.
“III. A reference to the government plat shows that all of the upland on said lots 1 and 2 lies north of an inland lake (Twin Lake), which is shown by the government plat to extend both easterly and westerly across and beyond what would ordinarily be described as the N. E. % of said section 2; and said lot 3 is shown to embrace all of the upland on said quarter section abutting upon the south side of said lake.
“IV. Lot 4 of said section 2 lies immediately west of said lots 2 and 3.
“V. According to the government plat, said lot 4 has an easterly frontage on said inland lake, but at the present time the waters of said lake have so receded that the western end of said lake is some rods [43]*43east of the north and south quarter line, which forms the dividing line between lot 2 and said lot 4, although there are yet remaining physical evidences that the lake at one time extended westerly of said north and south quarter line.
“VI. No part of said lots 1 and 2 are shown by the government plat to include any lands south of the lake, or beyond the center of the lake. The government plat shows that said lot 3 embraces all the land bordering upon the south side of the lake directly opposite said lots 1 and 2 bordering the lake on the north.
“VII. The real controversy in this case is over acres of land in the southwest comer of the whole quarter section had the section not been fractional, and 3.33 acres of land in the south central part of said quarter section had the section not been fractional. Plaintiff claims that lots 1 and 2 include all the land and water that would be embraced if the lines of his property were' so extended as to make the description thereof the N. E. 1/4 of said section 2, and that to reach the south boundary thereof he may extend the lines of his subdivisions into and across the entire width of the lake, thereby excluding defendants from the water frontage of said lot 3 as shown by the government plat, and can claim and hold as his own the property in dispute, although the same, as shown by the government plat, is a part of said lot 3.
“VIII. The property really in dispute is no part of -either said lot 1 or said lot 2, but is a part of said lot 3, and plaintiff has no right, title, or interest therein.
“From all the testimony admitted in said cause, I find the facts as above stated, and I find as conclusion of law that plaintiff has no cause of action against said defendants.
“Let judgment, therefore, be entered for the defendants, with costs to be taxed.”

Plaintiff’s Exhibit 2, appearing in the record following page 44, is hereto attached. It is claimed by the plaintiff that it shows the conditions when he purchased. It is as follows:

[44]

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Related

Poch v. Urlaub
98 N.W.2d 509 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1959)
United States v. Otley
34 F. Supp. 182 (D. Oregon, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
162 N.W. 73, 195 Mich. 41, 1917 Mich. LEXIS 650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bransfield-v-wallace-mich-1917.