Oxnard v. Proprietors on the Kennebeck Purchase
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was a writ of right, brought by sundry heirs to recover certain lands alleged to have descended to them from a common ancestor.
Read the full summary
This was a writ of right, brought by sundry heirs to recover certain lands alleged to have descended to them from a common ancestor. The tenants, at the last October term, pleaded, in abatement, “ that, since the last continuance of the writ, viz., on the 1st day of July last past, the said Caroline Fox, one of the . demandants in the said writ, intermarried with John Potter, Esq., and is now covert of the said Potter, her husband, who is yet living, viz., at Augusta aforesaid, and this, &c.; wherefore, inasmuch as the said J. P. is not joined in said writ, the said proprietors pray judgment…
1Opinion of the CourtJackson, J.
No question was made in the argument as to the form of the plea in abatement filed in this case; and there is no doubt that the fact suggested is sufficient to abate the writ.
If there be two or more plaintiffs, a disability in one of them shall stop the proceedings of the others on their writ. (1) And the effect is the same, whether the disability exists at the commencement, of the action, or occurs afterwards, provided the defendant takes notice of it seasonably by a proper plea.
This is the general rule. But there are some exceptions at common law, when the party disabled has been previously…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Cutts v. HaskinsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1814
- Maybury & Clark v. EvansNew York Supreme Court · 1839