Fritz v. Tompkins

18 Misc. 514, 41 N.Y.S. 985
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 18 Misc. 514 (Fritz v. Tompkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fritz v. Tompkins, 18 Misc. 514, 41 N.Y.S. 985 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1896).

Opinion

Mattice, J.

The plaintiff and defendant are owners of adjoining farms designated as Subdivision Lots Nos. 5 and 6, in the easterly half of Division No. 29 of Great Lot No. 2 of the Hardenburgh Patent. Lot 5 does not adjoin any public highway and the plaintiff has no means of access to the public way except over Lot 6 or over the lands of strangers. July 9, 1870, one Isaac M. Paxmienter was the owner of both Lots 5 and 6. On that day he conveyed Lot 5 by warranty deed to one John M. Reynolds, and Lot 6 to one Ingraham Hurlbert. In the deed to Reynolds appears the following grant: “Also hereby granting unto the said party of the second part the right to use a private road excepted and reserved from the premises granted and conveyed unto Ingraham Hurlbert by said party of the first part by warranty deed bearing even date herewith to which reference is here made.” The deed to Hurlbert contained the following reservation: “ Excepting and reserving therefrom a right of way across said premises of sufficient width to pass and repass'with teams and vehicles, and running from the highway along the lane between said premises and lands of Cyrus Peak to the southeast corner of the premises hereby granted.”

The fee to both Lots 5 and 6 vested in one Egbert A. Clark, by purchase at foreclosure sales July 16, 1881. In December, 1882, Clark sold Lot 6 to the defendant and agreed to convey with covenants of warranty, but did not reserve in the instrument a way across Lot 6 to Lot 5. Defendant went into possession of Lot 6, fulfilled the contract with Clark and afterward received a deed from Clark’s heirs. In January, 1884, Clark sold Lot 5 to the [516]*516plaintiff, who went into possession and performed his contract and afterward received a deéd from the heirs of Clark. ¡¡Neither the contracts of sale nor the deeds contained any particular or general Words indicating an intention to grant or reserve the way.

The unity of title and possession in Clark of both Lots 5 and 6 destroyed the easement theretofore created by the grant of Parr mienter to Reynolds. One cannot have an easement in his own lands. Where there has been a dominant and servient tenement and the ownership of such tenements has been unified, the easement becomes mergéd and extinguished. When. the. ownership was again severed by the-conveyance of Lot 6 to the defendant and Lot 5 to the plantiff, no'easement existed. The way did not pass by the word “ appurtenances.” Parsons v. Johnson, 68 N. Y. 62. The plaintiff, therefore, cannot maintain this action .based upon the grant and reservation contained in the deeds given by Parmienter, for the reason that the easement was extinguished by the subsequent unity of title .in Clark, the immediate grantor of both the plaintiff and defendant. Does a way over Lot 6 exist, by reason of necessity? It is well settled, both upon principle and authority, that there is an implied grant of such a way in favor of the grantee over the lands of the grantor where the necessity exists and so long as it. exists. Palmer v. Palmer, 150 N. Y. 139; N. Y. Life Insurance & Trust Co. v. Milnor, 1 Barb. Ch. 353; Holmes v. Seely, 19 Wend. 507; Simmons v. Sines, 4 Abb. Ct. App. Dec. 246.

The courts of this state have not yet decided that an implied reservation of such a Way exists in favor, of the grantor over the lands granted. That doctrine, however, has been well established in several states. Adams v. Marshall, 138 Mass. 228; 52 Am. Rep. 271; Schmidt v. Quinn, 136 Mass. 575; Brigham v. Smith, 4 Cray, 297; Alley v. Carleton, 29 Texas, 74; 94 Am. Dec. 260; Pingree v. McDuffie, 56 N. H. 306; White v. Bass, 7 H. & N. 732; Clarke v. Cogee, Cro. Jac. 170; Seymour v. Lewis, 13 N. J. Eq. 444; 78 Am. Dec. 108; Ogden v. Grove, 38 Penn St. 487.

As before stated, Lot 5 does not abut upon any highway, The northeast comer is nearest the highway. About the year 1870 and shortly after his purchase of Lot 5 frpm Parmienter, Reynolds constructed a road from the southeast corner of Lot 6 a distance of a few rods to the highway. Reynolds built the road pursuant to the grant contained in his deed and upon the land reserved for that purpose by Parmienter in'the conveyance of Lot 6 to Hurlbert,. July 9, 1870. Hurlbert occupied Lot 6 at the time Reynolds built [517]*517the 'road. This road has been used more or less by the various occupants of Lot 5 down, to the time the obstructions complained of were placed therein by the defendant in 1893. When the occupant of Lot 6 also occupied Lot 5 he did not usé this way, for the reason that it was more convenient to reach Lot 5 from his buildings in another direction and across the meadow of Lot 6. When the defendant went into possession of Lot 6 and.when he entered into his contract of purchase, this road was open and visible. When the owners of Lots 5 and 6 built the line fence, they built to the road and not across it, and later when plaintiff and defendant built a new line fence they set a bar or gate-post on the easterly sidé of the road and did not build across it. At the time the new fence was built the plaintiff was Using the,road and continued such use without objection by defendant until the fall of 1893, when defendant obstructed it.

When the defendant purchased Lot 6 the necessity for a way was obvious, the road was open and visible, and, therefore, the burden or servitude was apparent. Under such circumstances, it must be held that, in the conveyance' of Lot 6 to the defendant, there was an implied reservation of a way to the grantor and those claiming under him so long as the necessity for one should exist.

Such implied reservation is not in derogation of the grant nor repugnant to the covenants of warranty Contained in the deed. These views áre not in conflict with those expressed in Rea v. Minkler, 5 Lans. 196. It was there held that the existence and use of a private right of way by express grant over the demised premises to which they were subject at the time of the conveyance was a breach of the covenant of Warranty contained in the deed. There is a broad distinction between a right of way by necessity and one conveyed by express grant. The one terminates when the necessity ceasés.. The other is fixed by the terms of the grant and becomes permanent. This distinction was recognized in Rea v. Minkler, supra. At page 200, Miller, P. J., says: “There is a palpable distinction between a right of way by necessity and one conveyed by á grant.” Indeed, this distinction is preserved in those cases where it is held that easements cannot be reserved by implication in favor of the grantor.

In Carbrey v. Willis, 7 Allen, 364, it is said: “ Where there is á grant of land by metes and bounds Without express reservation, and with full covenants of warranty against incumbrances, we think there is no just reason for holding that there Can be any [518]*518reservation by implication, unless the easement is, strictly, one of necessity.”

. In Adams v. Marshall, 138 Mass, 228; 52 Am. Rep. 271, it. was stated that “the strictness with which this rule is held, as, between grantees from one grantor by deeds simultaneously delivered, is shown by Buss v. Dyer, 125. Mass. 287; and is as there stated. The English cases which deny the authority'of Pyer v. Carter, 1 H. & N. 916, agree with'ours that a grantor cannot be per-, mitted to derogate from his absolute grant unless in case of a strict necessity. * * * The law upon ways by necessity has been frequently considered by this court and it is established that such-ways exist only so long as the necessity;exists.

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Bluebook (online)
18 Misc. 514, 41 N.Y.S. 985, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fritz-v-tompkins-nysupct-1896.