Fay v. Salem & Danvers Aqueduct Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Petition to this court, under the Sts. of 1839, a. 114, and 1850, c. 273, for the appointment of commissioners to assess damages caused to the petitioners by the respondents drawing water for their aqueduct from Spring Pond, a pond of about sixty acres, whereby the dwelling-house of the petitioners, situated on the shores of the pond, would “ become uncomfortable, and unfit for the purposes for which it was designed by the petitioners.”
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Petition to this court, under the Sts. of 1839, a. 114, and 1850, c. 273, for the appointment of commissioners to assess damages caused to the petitioners by the respondents drawing water for their aqueduct from Spring Pond, a pond of about sixty acres, whereby the dwelling-house of the petitioners, situated on the shores of the pond, would “ become uncomfortable, and unfit for the purposes for which it was designed by the petitioners.” At the hearing, before Gray, J., the only title claimed by the petitioners in the pond was by virtue of deeds, made in this century, of lands around nearly…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
By the law of Massachusetts, great ponds are public property, the use of which for taking water or ice, as well as for fishing, fowling, bathing, boating,- or skating, may be regulated or granted by the Legislature at its discretion. Anc. Chart. 148, 149. Cummings v. Barrett, 10 Cush. 186. West Roxbury v. Stoddard, 7 Allen, 158. Paine v. Woods, 108 Mass. 160, 169. Commonwealth v. Vincent, Ib. 441. Tudor v. Cambridge Waterworks, 1 Allen, 164.
*28These petitioners, as the report finds, have no title in Spring Pond, except that derived from, deeds of lands partly surrounding the pond on the side…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Paine v. WoodsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1871
- Presbrey v. Old Colony & Newport Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
3Cited by22 opinions
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- Cassidy v. Old Colony RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886
- Herrin v. SutherlandMontana Supreme Court · 1925
- Watuppa Reservoir Co. v. City of Fall RiverMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1888
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