Shirley v. Shirley

In this appeal, we address the common law rule that, in a deed, a reservation or exception in favor of a stranger to the instrument does not create in the stranger any right or interest in the property being conveyed. The circuit court relied on this rule to sustain demurrers to a bill of complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that a reservation in favor of a stranger to a deed created a life estate for the benefit of the stranger. Since this rule is applicable in the Commonwealth pursuant to Code § 1-10, and because we conclude that any modification of the rule falls within the province of…