Raper v. Belk

MERRILL, Justice.

Appeal from a decree ordering certain lands sold for division among the joint owners. The decree must be reversed for the failure of appellees to prove their allegation that the “lands cannot be equitably divided or partitioned among the joint owners or tenants in common without a sale of the same.”

Partition of land between joint owners or tenants in common is a matter of right, but the alternative right to have land sold for division is statutory, and is conditioned upon averment and proof that the property cannot be equitably divided or partitioned among them. When this…