Emerson v. Wiley
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was a writ of entry sur disseisin, in which the demandant, as the settled minister of the parish in South Reading, demanded four acres of land back of the meetinghouse, and near the pond in that town. He sets forth in his declaration, that his predecessor was seised of and enjoyed the same in right of the parish, until his death ; upon which the tenant entered and wrongfully keeps the demandant out.
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This was a writ of entry sur disseisin, in which the demandant, as the settled minister of the parish in South Reading, demanded four acres of land back of the meetinghouse, and near the pond in that town. He sets forth in his declaration, that his predecessor was seised of and enjoyed the same in right of the parish, until his death ; upon which the tenant entered and wrongfully keeps the demandant out. At the trial, before Morton J., it was agreed, that the demandant was the legal minister of the parish, he having been regularly settled in October 1804. His counsel read in evidence a vote…
1Opinion of the Court
Putnam J.
drew up the opinion of the Court, (Wilde J. *325dissenting.)* The demandant claims the land demanded, as minister of the first parish in Reading, as parsonage land. If "the premises were to be considered strictly as parsonage land at the time when the parish made a deed with warranty thereof to Mr. Prentiss, it is clear that the deed did not convey the fee simple. For by Prov. St. 28 Geo. 2, and St. 1785, c. 51, the minister is a sole corporation and holds the parsonage in succession. And the alienation of the parish, without his consent, would not divest the estate from the corporation.…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Brown v. PorterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1813
- Inhabitants of the First Parish v. DunningMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1811
- Weston v. HuntMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
- Austin v. ThomasMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1817
3Cited by1 opinion
- Mooney v. MerriamSupreme Court of Kansas · 1908