Baker v. Lewis
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Appeal, No. 261, Jan. T., 1892, by plaintiff, from judgment of C. P. Union Co., March T, 1889, No. 24, for defendant in trespass for breaking plaintiff’s close and carrying off his goods. At the trial the evidence was to the effect that plaintiff was lessee in possession of a farm under a lease dated April 1,1887, from one Ziegler and wife with covenant to pay one half the crop as rent.
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Appeal, No. 261, Jan. T., 1892, by plaintiff, from judgment of C. P. Union Co., March T, 1889, No. 24, for defendant in trespass for breaking plaintiff’s close and carrying off his goods. At the trial the evidence was to the effect that plaintiff was lessee in possession of a farm under a lease dated April 1,1887, from one Ziegler and wife with covenant to pay one half the crop as rent. T. S. Lewis, one of the defendants, on Dec. 31, 1888, demanded of plaintiff one fourth of the year’s crop which had been stored in the granary but had not been divided or set apart, alleging that he was…
1Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Mr. Justice Mitchell,
The defendant may have a good title to one half of the land as tenant in common, but a more disorderly method of asserting it rarely comes before a court. He had a paper title by deed made in 1866, the trespass complained of took place in 1888, and there was no pretence that he had been in actual possession of the land between those dates. On the contrary the legal possession was in the Zieglers under claim of exclusive title, and the actual occupation was by plaintiff as their tenant.
Even under defendant’s claim of title, plaintiff was in lawful occupation of…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Pennsylvania & New York Railroad & Canal Co. v. BunnellSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1871
- Long v. SeaversSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1884
- Ream v. HarnishSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1863
3Cited by2 opinions
- Lubecki v. Omega Logging, Inc.District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania · 1987
- McClarigan v. MatlackSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1929