Coons v. Carstensen

Can an owner of land encumbered by a restrictive agreement deliver good and clear record title if public law imposes substantially similar limitations upon the manner in which the land may be used?

By reason of St. 1961, c. 579, § 3, the Carstensens, who own 12.75 acres 2 bordering the Sudbury River in Lincoln, faced an uneasy choice. That statute authorized the Commissioner of Natural Resources to acquire approximately 1,000 acres of the marsh and land along the river as lay “at or below the [120-foot] contour interval above mean sea level,” unless the owner preempted the possible taking by…