LAW.coLAW.co

Jackson, ex dem. Ludlow & Ketcham, against Sowle & Sowle

New York Supreme Court of Judicature1816-08
13 Johns. 336

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Per Curiam.

The plaintiff sets lip 9. right to recover on ÜM grounds, 1st. Upon, his paper title-; .2di Onhis possession.. .- It is manifest there can- be no gore between Sanders & Héermancds patent,- and that Called the Mine Partners patent) the latter- is bounded on .the- former. All- the evidence shows,, (and it has not beenpretended on the argument,.) .that the premises, do- not lie within,.Sanders Sr HeermanCeU .patentit is equally Certain that a line called the Indian line, is-.the well-known northern boundary- of that patent: indeed, in the patent to Reed,-this line is expressly recognised. The description of* the land granted by the Mine Partners patent, strongly corro* borates the location given by the defendants. The south line is not a straight line-;-the Sanders S Heerniance patent is a southerly boundary, so. far as it goes,and then it becomes awes* terly boundary, which could not-, happen unless there wása deviatipn. in the lihe. The line. Set up by die .plain tiff, as the- south line of the Mine Partners patent,.is a straight line,iwfiich is in direct opposition-to the expressions, in that, grant. .

It appears, pretty satisfactorily)how the line set up by the plaintiff, ás the south .line off the Mine Partners patent, cameto be run as it. was. Theproprietors, many years since; laid out á ’tier Of water lots onthe river, extending four , miles back. These- were .straight lines, extending beyond.where the-south line of the--patent changed its course, and, therefore, not affecting the land lying, to the south of, this line; and ;the Sanders Sr Heermance patent,, confessedly, not extending north Of the Indian lipe, gave .rise to the idea that the -intermediate lands were a gore, and vacant, when, in truth, theró could be no such.thing.

If it were not .satisfactorilyexplained how, and for what purpose, this line was run, it might be deemed a location by the ..patentees, of their south boundary, but the facts in the ease preelude this conclusión ; for it appears that they have claimed, and exercised acts of. ownership over, what is called the gore. It follows thatthe plaintiff has failed in showing a paper title to the premises, inasmuch as the premises are comprehended in an older patent to- the Mine Partners.. ■ Ifother considerations were necessary t.o evince the plaintiff’s want of title, it is a strong circumstance, that since- the. erection of towns in this state’the tract of land called the great or Lower Mine Partners,, has been the boundary recognised by the legislature, between the town# ©f.Poughkeepsie and Clinton, and the lands in question áre described in the designation as lying in C/mion..

As to the possessory right, it would be excessively uninteresting, if not disgusting, to go through and present the confused mass of evidence in relation to it; Suffice it to say, that none of the possessions, prior to those of the defendant’s father and of Thorn, áre definite ór continued, but are wholly vague, equivocal arid uncertain; sometimes the possession is under the Mine Partners, and sometimes under Reed and Ludlow, and sometimesthe possessors are. mere intruders. Such a heterogeneous possession ought not to. avail against a clear paper title, in opposition,to that of the -léssors, as no immediate privity is pretqnded between the lessors and the defendants.

Judgment for the defendants.