Perkins v. Jacobs

129 A. 4, 124 Me. 347, 1925 Me. LEXIS 35
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedMay 8, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 129 A. 4 (Perkins v. Jacobs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perkins v. Jacobs, 129 A. 4, 124 Me. 347, 1925 Me. LEXIS 35 (Me. 1925).

Opinion

Morrill, J.

The first case is a real action; the second is an action of trespass quare clausum fregit. The parties own adjoining lots in the Village of Ogunquit, in the town of Wells, the Easterly line of plaintiff’s lot being the Westerly line of defendant’s property. As is usual in such cases, the location of that dividing line is in dispute, and by the pleadings the title to a lot of land 25.2 feet wide on a street and 101.96 feet deep on the disputed line, is in issue.

Both parties claim under warranty deeds from the same grantors, George H. Littlefield and Lester C. Littlefield, hereinafter for brevity referred to as ".the Littlefields.” The plaintiff’s deed is dated October 27, 1919 and conveys . .

"Lots twenty two (22), twenty three (23) and twenty four (24) as shown upon Plan of Property of George H. Littlefield & Son in said Wells, in the Village of Ogunquit, so called, made by R. W. Libby, Eng. April 1913 which lots are bounded as follows, to wit: On the North for 210 feet by a Reserved Street; on the East for 101.96 feet by land of said Grantors; on the South by land of N. P. M, Jacobs; on the West for 97.64 feet by lot numbered twenty one.”

The defendant’s deed is dated October 22, 1921 and conveys

. “A certain lot of land in said town of Wells, in the Village of Ogunquit,'so called, the same as shown on a certain Plan made by R. W. Libby, April 1913 for said George H. Littlefield & Son and bounded on the North for 165 feet by a Reserved Street; on the East by Jacobs, [349]*349Wearo et als; on the South for 165 feet, more or less by land of said Grantee; on the West for 101.96 feet by lot No. 24 now owned by E. Dana Perkins.”

No question arises as to recording of the deeds, or as to the identity of the plan referred to in both deeds and made a part of the description in each deed. A blue-print copy of the original plan, which has been lost or destroyed, was introduced in evidence without question, and is made a part of the case. By reference as a part of the description in each deed, the plan is made a material and essential part of each conveyance with the same force and effect as if copied into each deed, and is subject to no other explanations by extraneous evidence than if all the particulars of the description had been actually inserted in the body of the grant or deed. McElwee v. Mahlman, 117 Maine, 402, 406. Bradstreet v. Winter, 119 Maine, 30, 38. Erskine v. Moulton, 66 Maine, 276, 280. Nor does it make any difference that the plan is not recorded; it is sufficient to prove the plan and its contents. Danforth v. Bangor, 85 Maine, 423, 428. In the instant case it is conceded that a blue-print copy of the plan was given to Mr. Perkins by the Littlefields when he bought his lots.

It is obvious upon reading the deeds that the defendant took title to all the land South of the Reserved Street mentioned in the deed, from land of Jacobs, Weare & als. on the East to lot No. 24 owned by the plaintiff on the West. The Easterly line of lot twenty-four is the defendant’s Westerly monument or boundary; beyond that line he cannot go Westerly. The plaintiff so contends and is unquestionably right in that contention.

It has often been said that what are the boundaries of land conveyed by a deed, is a question of law; where the boundaries are, is a question of fact. An existing line of an adjoining tract may as well be a monument as any other object. Abbott v. Abbott, 51 Maine, 575, 581. Murray v. Munsey, 120 Maine, 148, 150. When one accepts a deed bounding him by another’s land, the land referred to becomes a monument which will control distances. Bryant v. Railroad Company, 79 Maine, 312.

The Easterly line of lot twenty-four being the boundary or monument between the lands of the parties, the question of fact presented is where on the face of the earth is that line as shown on the plan. In deciding this question of fact, the case being here on report, we exercise the functions of a jury. A careful examination of the undisputed [350]*350testimony of the surveyor who made the plan, leads to but one conclusion, — that the Easterly line of lot twenty-four as shown on the plan is a prolongation Southerly of the line of a fence which marked the Westerly boundary of the “school house lot,” so called, when the plan was made, and the land in dispute is within the boundaries of defendant's deed. The testimony leaves no doubt that the surveyor used that fence as a monument from which to plot the “school house lot,” and the Easterly and Westerly lines of the lot later sold to the defendant. There is absolutely no evidence that the fence in question did nót mark the Westerly boundary of the schoolhouse lot.

Examination of the record will demonstrate the correctness of this conclusion, and that the confusion has arisen solely through an error of the surveyor in marking on the plan the supposed width of the nine lots, including lot twenty-four, plotted Westerly of the lot later sold to the defendant.

By deed dated May 16, 1912 the Littlefields took title to a tract of land of which the lots of the parties are á part; this tract must at sometime have been carefully surveyed because it is described in the deed by courses, distances and bounds; on its South line, its Southeasterly corner was marked by a stone bound; another stone bound was at the Northeasterly corner adjoining land of Lincoln C. Little-field, at the Northeasterly corner of lot twentyj-seven as shown on the plan; iron hubs or posts marked other angles of the tract conveyed; these stone bounds, iron hubs and posts are mentioned in the deed.

In May, 1905 a former owner of the large tract had conveyed therefrom to the Town of Wells a rectangular lot one hundred sixty-five feet square, with a “right of way” twenty-five feet wide, along the Northerly side; leading to Main Street; the corners of this lot were described in the deed to the Town as marked by stones, and the courses of the lines were given. In the deed of May 16, 1912 this “school house lot” was carefully excluded apd the bounds at the Southeástérly, Southwesterly and Northwesterly corners were given as bounds of the lot then conveyed; the length of the Southerly and Westerly sides was given as one hundred sixty-five feet each, and the description began at a point on the Northerly side of the right of way, opposite the Northwest corner of the schoolhouse lot. In the deed to the Littlefields an iron hub in the Easterly line of the School house lot; forty-nine and one'half (49|) feet Northerly from the Southeasterly corner thereof is also given as a bound of the land conveyed. [351]*351These details so carefully observed in the deed of May 16, 1912 show conclusively that the location of the schoolhouse lot was clearly defined and marked on the face of the earth, and the iron hubs along the Northerly side of the tract North of the right of way, are located with reference to its Northwesterly corner.

In April of the following year, 1913, the Littlefields employed It. W. Libby to make a plan of their land and divide it into lots. At that time Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harborview Condominium Ass'n v. Pinard
603 A.2d 872 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1992)
Gammon v. Verrill
600 A.2d 832 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1991)
Kinney v. Central Maine Power Co.
403 A.2d 346 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1979)
Liebler v. Abbott
388 A.2d 520 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1978)
Horace Case v. Arthur E. Morrisette
475 F.2d 1300 (D.C. Circuit, 1973)
Bradstreet v. Bradstreet
180 A.2d 459 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1962)
Browne v. Wood
118 A.2d 772 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1955)
Brewster v. Churchill
88 A.2d 585 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1952)
Hardison v. Jordan
44 A.2d 892 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1945)
McCausland v. York
174 A. 383 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
129 A. 4, 124 Me. 347, 1925 Me. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-jacobs-me-1925.