White v. Godfrey
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for cutting off limbs of an elm tree on Summer Street in Taunton. At the trial in the superior court, before Morton, J., it appeared that the plaintiff acquired a lot of land on that street, by a deed in which the description was as follows: “A certain tract of land situate at the Neck of Land, so called, in said Taunton, on the northerly side of Summer Street, bounded and described as follows : beginning at a point on the line of Samuel Blake’s land; thence by said…
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Tort for cutting off limbs of an elm tree on Summer Street in Taunton. At the trial in the superior court, before Morton, J., it appeared that the plaintiff acquired a lot of land on that street, by a deed in which the description was as follows: “A certain tract of land situate at the Neck of Land, so called, in said Taunton, on the northerly side of Summer Street, bounded and described as follows : beginning at a point on the line of Samuel Blake’s land; thence by said street north fifty-eight and three quarters degrees west, about one hundred feet, to a stake and stones at the corner of…
1Opinion of the CourtFoster, J.
We entertain no doubt that the plaintiff owned the land to the centre of the street. By the doctrine now established, such is the presumption wherever a deed bounds an estate by or on a public or private way, unless a contrary intent appears on the face of the instrument. Boston v. Richardson, 13 Allen, 146. He bad therefore sufficient title to maintain this action, unless the acts of the defendant were justifiable. We assume that the powers of the superintendent of streets in the city of Taunton are coextensive with those of an ordinary surveyor of highways. Such officers, by the Gen. Sts.…
2Cited by16 opinions
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