30 Minn. 283 | Minn. | 1883
Ejectment for lot 6, block 128, of the town (now city) of Minneapolis. One Hanson, in June, 1855, was the owner of 80 acres, according to the governmental subdivision, which included the land in controversy, and executed to Carlos Wilcox a deed, duly recorded May 27, 1856, conveying land described as “all those tracts or parcels of land lying a-nd being in Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, described as follows, to wit: lots Nos. six (6) and seven, (7,)'in block No. sixty-nine, (69,) of Hanson’s addition to Minneapolis; said block being the sixth (6th) from the quarter-section post at the land-office between Second and Third streets, according to a plat of said town now in the office of said Wilcox. ” In this deed the parties are described as “of Minneapolis, Hennepin county, territory of Minnesota. ” Plaintiff claims under this deed. Afterwards Hanson died, leaving one William Hanson his heir. In 1863, under a judgment and execution against the latter, lot 6, in block 128, being the land in controversy, was sold by the sheriff, and defendants, as purchasers in good faith, claim under that sale. Plaintiff claims that lot 6 in the deed to Wilcox is identical with lot 6 so sold on execution and claimed by defendants. On the trial the court below admitted, against defendants’ objections, evidence to show the identity of lot 6 conveyed to Wilcox with the lot in controversy.
Parol evidence is, and must of necessity be, always admissible to identify the property described in and conveyed by a deed, to ascertain to what property the particulars of description in the deed apply. For this purpose, as against a subsequent purchaser from the same grantor, any fact going to show the identity may be shown, if the record of the deed be constructive notice of such fact. The record is constructive notice of any fact as to which it puts a party examining the state of the title upon inquiry, suggests the line of inquiry, and the existence of which will probably be ascertained by diligently following such inquiry. The deed to Wilcox sufficiently designates the place, — Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, — which, by referring to the description of the parties, is ascertained to have been in the territory of Minnesota. It appears, also, from the description
All these inquiries are suggested by the items of description in the deed to Wilcox, except the comparison of the prior plats with the recorded plat, which would of necessity be suggested by an offer to sell according to that plat. It is to be presumed, there being nothing to raise a doubt upon it, that, had the inquiries thus suggested been followed with diligence, the facts would have been ascertained, which were these: That before the date of the deed to Wilcox, Hanson had caused his land, or a portion of it, to be surveyed into streets, blocks, and lots, had run out and established the lines of the same upon the ground in connection with surveys of adjacent lands, and had a plat of his survey which was commonly referred to by him and others as Hanson’s addition to Minneapolis; that there was, at the date of the deed, a plat of Minneapolis, which covered Hanson’s survey and the surveys of adjoining lands; that the recorded plat of Minneapolis substantially incorporated all these surveys, the names
Evidence that Hanson pointed out to Wilcox on the ground the lots intended to be conveyed, was incompetent, for the deed was no notice of that fact. But the identity of the lot was fully established by uncontroverted competent evidence, and the admission of the incompetent evidence could not have affected the result. The error must, therefore, be disregarded.
Order affirmed.
Mitchell, J., because of illness, and Vanderburgh, J., having tried the case in the district court, took no part in this decision.