Ferguson v. Miller
New York Supreme Court
Certiorari to a Justice’s Court. Trespass, by Miller against Ferguson, for cutting a bee tree, standing on the land c 7 • mi i ° of one Jenkins. The plaintiff had discovered the tree, and marked it with the initials of his name ; and a witness swore that Jenkins gave him liberty to cut the tree, though Jenkins remembered nothing of this on the trial.
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Certiorari to a Justice’s Court. Trespass, by Miller against Ferguson, for cutting a bee tree, standing on the land c 7 • mi i ° of one Jenkins. The plaintiff had discovered the tree, and marked it with the initials of his name ; and a witness swore that Jenkins gave him liberty to cut the tree, though Jenkins remembered nothing of this on the trial. The defendant traced the swarm of bees to the same tree, cut out the initials of the plaintiff’s name, substituted -his own, and felled and removed the limb of the tree, where the bees were, uih ^er a subsequent license from Jenkins, for which…
1Opinion of the Court
Curia.
[After remarking, that this case, as to the property in the bees, came precisely within that of Gillet v. Mason, (7 John. 16 ;) and that the owner of' the soil alone had a right to the tree, with all that was in it:] Admit the fact that Jenkins gave Miller liberty to cut the tree and take the bees—that did not give him a title to the bees till he had taken possession of them. TJhe license was without consideration, and liable to be revoked at pleasure. Suppose; Jenkins, himself, had cut the tree and taken the bees : can it be pretended that the plaintiff could have maintained an action…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Gillet v. MasonNew York Supreme Court · 1810
3Cited by5 opinions
- Sterling v. JacksonMichigan Supreme Court · 1888
- Rexroth v. CoonSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1885
- Den on Dem. of Stedman v. McIntoshSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1845
- Johnson v. MillerCourt of Appeals of Washington · 1970
- Fisher v. StewardSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1804