Legal Opinion

McLellan v. Whitney

Supreme Court of Vermont

Decided July 1, 1893PublishedCited by 3 opinions

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Trover for a quantity of oats. Plea, not guilty. Trial by jury at the February term, 1893, Ross, Ch. J., presiding. Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant excepts. The plaintiff was the owner of a farm which he had leased by written instrument to one Chamberlain. The oats in question were raised on this farm and the plaintiff’s only title to them was under the written lease. The defendant offered to show that he attached and sold the oats on an execution against Chamberlain, but the court excluded the evidence under the defendant’s exception, and directed a verdict for the…

1Opinion of the Court

The opinion of the court was delivered by

THOMPSON, J.

The decision of this case depends •upon the construction to be given to the written contract between the plaintiff and Chamberlain. By this contract the plaintiff leased the farm and personal property to Chamberlain for three years, subject only to plaintiff’s right to sell the premises during that time. Under this lease Chamberlain went into the exclusive possession and occupancy of the farm and personal property, and was in the possession *512thereof at the time the defendant took the oats. This was not a letting upon shares, but was a…

2Cases cited4 opinions

Aiken v. SmithSupreme Court of Vermont · 1849
Frost v. KelloggSupreme Court of Vermont · 1851
Gray v. StevensSupreme Court of Vermont · 1855
Hurd v. DarlingSupreme Court of Vermont · 1844

3Cited by3 opinions

Beers v. FieldSupreme Court of Vermont · 1897
O'Brien v. WaiteSupreme Court of Vermont · 1932
Smith v. ThibaultSupreme Court of Vermont · 1961