13 Or. 503 | Or. | 1886
It is not claimed that the descriptions in these deeds of the property conveyed by them are vague and uncertain, or ambiguous, or that there can be any difficulty in applying them to locate the property for which they call; but it is conceded that if the descriptions are followed, the strip of land in question was not conveyed to Anna M. Dedman, but is included in the lands conveyed to the plaintiff. The defendant, however, insists that it was the intention to convey the land in dispute to Anna M. Dedman in the first deed, and from her to the defendant, but that there was an error or mistake in the description, which he contends he ought to be allowed to uncover or prove by parol evidence.
It is difficult to perceive upon what ground this position can be maintained in an action at law. Clearly, the object of such oral evidence was to import into the deed an intent to transfer a greater quantity of land than the description called for. And if there -is any proposition of law well established upon principle and authority, it is, when the description in a deed designates a piece of land as that conveyed, the description cannot be departed from by parol evidence of intent. Abbott, in his Trial Evidence, page 698, says: “A conveyance of real property is not merely the voluntarily chosen expression of the intention of the parties, and therefore, as between them and those claiming under them, presumably the final definition of their intention, but it is also by statute the only sufficient means of a voluntary transfer; and therefore, an intent to transfer real property cannot be imported into the deed by oral evidence; but oral evidence can only be used as a light to enable the court to read what is in the deed. Hence, to enable the court to understand what was intended, but not to contradict what is-unambiguously expressed, oral evidence is competent to identify, locate, and apply the description.” Nor do the
Now, the evidence offered was for the purpose of showing that a measurement from the section line back along the county road a certain distance would make an intersection at another and different point than that designated in the description, and that a line drawn from this point to the next point named would include the land in dispute. The manifest purpose of this evidence is to show that it was the intention of the parties to convey a greater quantity of land than can possibly be obtained by following the description, so as to include the land in dispute. It does not have the effect to give a double meaning to the language used; or to raise an ambiguity as to the line designated, so that when you come to apply it, it is equally applicable to convey a larger quantity, which would embrace the land in dispute, or the quantity described, which excludes it, so as to render an inquiry into such extrinsic facts necessary to ascertain which is meant, or corresponds with the party’s intent. Its only effect is to add to, vary, or contradict the language used, and thereby import into the deed by such extrinsic evidence an intention to transfer a greater quantity of land than can be extracted from the language of the description. The fact is, it is not possible, if a piece of land is accurately described by apt language, to increase its size or dimensions without adding to or increasing its boundaries. To take the description as it
The judgment of the court below ought to be affirmed.