Pugh v. Davenport

ARNOLD, Judge.

This case was argued by both parties on the basis of the Marketable Title Act, G.S. 47B-1 through 47B-9. The effect of the language in the 1923 Pritchett will, however, decides the outcome without any reference to the Act.

Although neither party discussed it in their briefs or oral arguments, the Rule in Shelley’s Case apparently applies to the devise by W. L. Pritchett. That common law doctrine was born in Wolfe v. Shelley, 1 Coke 93b, 76 Eng. Rep. 206 (C.B. 1581), and states:

When an ancestor, by any gift or conveyance, taketh an estate of freehold, and in the same gift or…