McGregor v. Wait
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Action of tort for breaking and entering the plaintiff’s close in Ipswich, tearing down a wall and treading down the grass. Answer, a right of way over the premises from land adjoining.
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Action of tort for breaking and entering the plaintiff’s close in Ipswich, tearing down a wall and treading down the grass. Answer, a right of way over the premises from land adjoining. At the trial in the court of common pleas, before Bishop-, J., it appeared in evidence that the close described, with a dwelling-house thereon, was conveyed by Aaron Goodhue to Mary Hobbs, wife of Abraham Hobbs, in her own right, in 1816; and was occupied by her and her husband until 1847, when they conveyed it to the plaintiff; and that the defendants inherited from their mother, Betsey Wait, the land…
1Opinion of the CourtMetcalf, J.
1. We are of opinion that the judge rightly declined to admit evidence that Mrs. Hobbs, without her husband’s knowledge, applied to Mrs. Wait for leave to put a shop on a part of the ground over which the defendants claim a right of way. That evidence was offered for the purpose of proving a right of way over land owned in fee by Mrs. Hobbs, and of which her husband and herself were seised and possessed in her right. If it was admissible for this purpose, it must have been on the ground of her confessing or admitting that her land was subject to a servitude. Such a confession or admission, by…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Jackson ex dem. Stewart v. KingsleyNew York Supreme Court · 1819