Thayer v. Wright
New York Supreme Court
Error to the Orleans common pleas. Thayer sued Wright before a justice in trover for a quantity of rails; and the case was substantially as follows: In 1835, the plaintiff leased a lot 62 feet by 40, in the northwest corner of his farm, where two roads met, to the trustees of school district No. 24, in Murray and Barry. The lease was in perpetuity; but the property was to revert when it ceased to be used for a school house.
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Error to the Orleans common pleas. Thayer sued Wright before a justice in trover for a quantity of rails; and the case was substantially as follows: In 1835, the plaintiff leased a lot 62 feet by 40, in the northwest corner of his farm, where two roads met, to the trustees of school district No. 24, in Murray and Barry. The lease was in perpetuity; but the property was to revert when it ceased to be used for a school house. A school house was built on the south side of the lot, fronting the east, with a privy in the rear, which had stood there for ten years and more, and a school was kept in…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Bronson, Ch. J.
The plaintiff was a trespasser when he built the fence on the school house lot; and the defendant, as a trustee of the school district, had an undoubted right to remove the fence. His only fault is, that he suffered the school children to be annoyed with the nuisance for two months before it was abated.
If the defendant had converted the rails to his own use, I am not prepared to admit that this action could be maintained. A fence is a fixture; and belongs to the owner of the soil. If a man knowingly enter upon the land of another, without permission, and build a…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Walker v. ShermanNew York Supreme Court · 1839
- Washburn v. SproatMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1820
3Cited by5 opinions
- Kimball v. AdamsWisconsin Supreme Court · 1881
- Lakes Island Realty Co. v. McDermottNew York Supreme Court · 1916
- Ogden v. JenningsNew York Supreme Court · 1873
- Sullivan v. CarberrySupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1877
- Mott v. . PalmerNew York Court of Appeals · 1848