Union Canal Co. v. Young

1 Whart. 410, 1836 Pa. LEXIS 210
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 14, 1836
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 1 Whart. 410 (Union Canal Co. v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Canal Co. v. Young, 1 Whart. 410, 1836 Pa. LEXIS 210 (Pa. 1836).

Opinion

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

Rogers, J.

This was an action of ejectment to recover 135 perches of land. On the trial of the cause, by consent of parties a verdict was taken for the plaintiffs, subject to the opinion of the Court upon the whole case.

[424]*424The defendants contend—

1. That no estate passed to the plaintiffs, which will entitle them to recover in this action.

2. That if any estate passed, the plaintiffs have lost their right to recover.

3. That the defendants may rescind the contract.

4. That for part of the land, Fox and Price, two of the defendants, are bona fide purchasers, without notice.

By the second section of the act of the 29th September, 1791, the Company have the power of purchasing, taking and holding, to them, their successors or assigns, in fee simple, or for a lesser estate, all such lands, tenements, and hereditaments, as shall be necessary for the prosecution of their work. There is a like provision in the act of the 10th April, 1796. In the 6th section of the first act, it is provided, “ That it may be lawful for the President and Managers, to contract and agree' with the owners of the lands and tenements, for the purchase of so much thereof as shall be necessary for the purpose of making, digging, and perfecting the canal, and of erecting and establishing, all the necessary locks, works and devices,” &c. if they can agree with such owners ; but in case of disagreement, &c., the act provides for the issuing a writ of ad-quod damnum, to assess the damages done to the owners of such lands and tenements, andón the return of the inquest directs the Court to give judgment, and declares, that the Company shall be entitled to have and to hold, to them and their successors and assigns forever, all and every the lands and tenements, &c. in the said inquisition described, as fully and effectually as if the same had been granted to them by the respective owners thereof.

It is immaterial in this controversy, whether the contract of sale between Mr. Young and the Company was, entered into on the 1st of April, 1792, or at a later period. The effect on the title is precisely the same. I must, however, be permitted to observe, that the evidence shows, roost clearly, a parol contract of the 1st of April, 1792, of which a memorandum, in writing, was made in the hand writing of William Young, some time in 1798. The contract was executed by the entry of the Company on the land, excavating it, preparing it for the uses and purposes of a canal, and by payments of the purchase-money. The resolution of the 3d May, 1796, shows that the contract was made at or about that period of time. Be this as it may, the contract was made under the authority of the acts cited, and was followed by the Company taking possession, as before stated. The defendants contend, that under this contract the plaintiffs acquired an easement or right of way only, and that for an injury to such an interest, ejectment will not lie; and it is true, if it be an easement, ejectment is not the proper remedy, as ejectment [425]*425will not lie for an incorporeal hereditament. 2 Yeates, 331; 4 Day’s R. 330.

It will not admit of doubt, that the Company might acquire, either-by contract, or on a writ of ad quod damnum', a right to the soil, either in fee simple or for any less estate. In this, the acts are express. When a contract is made for a purchase, for the use of the canal, as well as for the use of an individual, the presumption is, as against the grantor or bargainor, that the greater estate was intended to pass. In the note or- memorandum of Mr. Young, the quantity of the estate is not mentioned; but a sale of lands on an agreement to sell, imports a fee. Brooke, Abridgment, title Contract, Bargain and Sale, folio 169. In the case of a corporation aggregate, if a freehold passes, it must be afee or an estate equivalent to it; for in a grant of land to a corporation aggregate, the word successors is not necessary, though usually inserted; for albeit, such simple grant be only an estate for life, yet, as^ a corporation never dies, such estate for life is perpetual, or equivalent to a fee simple, and therefore the law allows it to be one. (2 Black. C. 109.) The bill of Mr. Young has nothing on its face which indicates that he sold to the company the right of way, only ; and if that had been his intention, it should have been so expressed in the instrument itself. Nor is the inference, which is drawn from the silence of Mr. Young, to be rebutted by calculations fonnded on the value of the land per acre, based on the price given for the whole tract, and of course, including in the estimate the improvements which were on the property at the time of his purchase. Calculations of this kind would be too uncertain; and it is impossible for us to say for what reason the vendor, (supposing the fact to be as is alleged), chose to part with his property to the Company for less than its real value. On the argument of this part of the case, reliance was had on the resolution of the 30th June, 1796, which directs Mr. Govett to give credit to Mr. Young for the amount of his damages, as settled, for the land occupied by the tract of the canal. The latter part of the resolution is nothing more than a description of the land for which the damages are directed tobe paid; and as to the word “damages,” the Company have used the term which is used in the 6th section of the act of incorporation; the money which is given as a compensation to the owner, is given as his damages ; and this as well where the Company acquire a right to a fee simple, as any less estate.

But if a fee simple did pass, the defendants contend that the plaintiffs have lost the right of recovery. Under this head I shall consider

1. The statute of limitations.

2. That equity will not lend its aid to enforce the plaintiffs’ claim.

3. That there is a condition annexed to the contract, which has not been performed.

4. That the Company was dissolved in 1811.

[426]*426After what has been already said, we must take it that the plaintiffs have a fee simple or an estate equivalent thereto in the property in controversy. The Company had taken possession of the locus in quo, by excavating and embanking it, and filling up for the purposes of a canal. They had the only possession, which they were entitled to ; for it may well be doubted, whether they would have been at liberty to have taken an exclusive possession of the property, until, the passage of the act of the 29 th March, 1819, which made it the duty of the Company to confine its operations to the completion of the communication between the Tulpehocken, Quittapahilla and Swatara Creek. The Company have, by these acts, acquired a concurrent, if not an exclusive possession. It is therefore incumbent on the defendants to show, either an abandonment of the right, or an ouster of the possession so acquired and held by the Company, and'a hostile and adverse holding by the defendants.

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Bluebook (online)
1 Whart. 410, 1836 Pa. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-canal-co-v-young-pa-1836.