Derby v. Hall
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Writ of entry, brought by the heirs of General Elias Hasket Derby, to recover a tract of land in Somerville, lately used by the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, a corporation duly established by St. 1793, c. 21. The parties submitted the case to the court upon a statement of facts, of which the material part is as follows : On the 18th of September 1801, Theodore Lyman conveyed to General Derby “ a certain farm, situated in Charlestown, and known by the name of Ten Hills,…
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Writ of entry, brought by the heirs of General Elias Hasket Derby, to recover a tract of land in Somerville, lately used by the Proprietors of the Middlesex Canal, a corporation duly established by St. 1793, c. 21. The parties submitted the case to the court upon a statement of facts, of which the material part is as follows : On the 18th of September 1801, Theodore Lyman conveyed to General Derby “ a certain farm, situated in Charlestown, and known by the name of Ten Hills, containing about three hundred acres, and bounded north and northeasterly on Medford Eiver, and northwesterly on land…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, J.
Several questions, involving nice and abstruse distinctions in the law of real property, have been very ably and elaborately argued by the learned counsel in this case ; but the consideration of them, in the view which we have taken of the case, is immaterial to its decision. In the construction of deeds, when the language in which a grant is expressed is ambiguous, or capable of a double interpretation, it is necessary to look at the situation of the parties at the time of the conveyance, the circumstances attending the transaction, the purposes and objects of the conveyance, and the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Adams v. FrothinghamMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
3Cited by1 opinion
- Seligman v. CarrCalifornia Court of Appeal · 1908