Hannefin v. Blake
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for preventing the plaintiff from entering on the defendant’s land to repair a drain leading across the land from the plaintiff’s house, which the plaintiff contended he had acquired the right to maintain by adverse use continued for twenty years.
Read the full summary
Tort for preventing the plaintiff from entering on the defendant’s land to repair a drain leading across the land from the plaintiff’s house, which the plaintiff contended he had acquired the right to maintain by adverse use continued for twenty years. The case was referred by rule of court, and at the hearing before the referee it appeared that the drain was laid in 1835; and Tobias W. Carter, who owned the land now belonging to the defendant from 1839 to 1865, was allowed, against the plaintiff’s objection, to testify that he had never had any knowledge of the drain until the hearing. There…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The referee, having found that the adverse use of the easement was not with the acquiescence or knowledge of the owner of the servient tenement, correctly decided that no adverse right had been acquired. The question whether Carter had knowledge of the existence of the easement while he owned the defendant’s tenement was pertinent and material, and he was a competent witness as to that point.
Judgment for the defendant.
2Cited by11 opinions
- Sprow v. Boston & Albany RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- Treadwell v. . InsleeNew York Court of Appeals · 1890
- Ward v. . WarrenNew York Court of Appeals · 1880
- Oldfield v. SmithMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1939
- Inhabitants of Deerfield v. Connecticut River RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1887
6 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.