28 Del. 473 | Del. Super. Ct. | 1915
charging- the jury:
Gentlemen of the jury:—The plaintiff in this case, James N. Conaway, complains of John E. Isaacs, the defendant, of a plea of trespass quare clausum fregit, and claims that on the eighth day of July, 1913, John E. Isaacs, the defendant, trespassed upon his land situate in Nanticoke Hundred, this county, and there cut down his growing pine trees, etc., whereby he, the plaintiff, sustained injury, and claims damages for the same.
The defendant admits going upon the land in question and cutting the pine trees, and claims he had the right to do so, by reason of his ownership of the land.
Plaintiff claims under the deed of Eliza Alexander, bearing date the twenty-seventh day of February, 1902, recorded in Deed Record No. 195, page 88; the land therein conveyed being described as follows:
All that certain tract, piece or parcel of land lying and being situate in Nanticoke Hundred, Sussex County and State of Delaware, described as follows, to wit: Beginning seventy-five perches from the grist mill known as the Collins Mills Bridge, a corner for what is known as the mill lot, thence in an easterly course and with the public road leading from Bridgeville to Georgetown to a point where the public road leading from Concord to Milford crosses said Georgetown and Bridgeville road, thence with said Concord and Milford road to the land of Baptist Conwell, thence with said Conwell’s land to high-water mark in the Collins mill pond; thence down and with said pond at high-water line to two pine stumps a corner of the mill lot, thence with a line of said mill lot as the same is known back to said starting point, containing one hundred and forty (140)-acres of land more or less, it being a part of what is known as the Collins mill farm and being all that part of said farm lying east of said mill pond from said high-water mark and between said two public roads and said Collins land.
Defendant claims under the deed of William R. Hitchens and Mary E., his wife, bearing date the twenty-fifth day of April,
All that certain tract, lot, piece or parcel of land, mill seat, mill lot, mill house, mill dam, mill pond, mill stream and branch, water rights, privileges and easements thereto belonging called and commonly known as Collins Mill, located on both sides of the public road in Nanticoke Hundred, Sussex County and State of Delaware, adjoining lands of James H. Conaway, Charles T. Isaacs, James N. Russell, John Emory Isaacs and others, be the contents thereof what they may improved by a two-story grist mill house and machinery therein belonging, a two-story frame dwelling house and machinery therein belonging, a two-story frame dwelling house with store house attached, stables, carriage house and other outbuildings thereon, and being the whole of tract, lot and parcel of land, mill seat and mill stream, mill dam and property which was conveyed to the said William R. Hitchens by Peter J. Hart, sheriff of Sussex County, by deed bearing date the eighteenth day of November, A. D. 1902, and now of record in the office for the recording of deeds at Georgetown, in and for Sussex County aforesaid, in Deed Record C. C. R., No. 143, folio 37, reference being thereunto had will fully appear.
The difference between the claims of the plaintiff as to the location of the western boundary line of his land and the claim of the defendant as to the eastern boundary line of his land, is the cause of the controversy in this case; therefore the course and locatian of the true line, dividing the properties of the plaintiff and defendant, is a question for your determination.
In locating the true boundary line between the land of the plaintiff and the land of the defendant, it will be necessary for you to first locate the lot mentioned in the deeds as the mill lot, or the lot known as the mill lot, and the eastern boundary line or course of the same, as this line determines the true dividing line between the land of the plaintiff and the land of the defendant. So that if you should find that the defendant entered into the land and cut the pine trees on the east, or Conaway side of the line dividing what is known as the mill lot from Conaway’s land, your verdict should be for the plaintiff.
Both the plaintiff and defendant claim that they have shown a good paper title to the premises in dispute. You have in evidence
Gentlemen, we say to you that under the evidence, we do not think this a case for exemplary damages, .and that your verdict, if for the plaintiff, should be for such a sum as would compensate him for the injury to his land, if any, as shown by the evidence.
Verdict for plaintiff.