111 Mass. 176 | Mass. | 1872
The bill alleges substantially that the defendant and Franklin Hopkins, Senior, deceased, by deed duly recorded, onveyed to the plaintiff a certain wharf together with the flats
Upon the facts disclosed in the master’s report, and in the agreed statement of the parties, we are of opinion that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief prayed for.
By the St. of 1852, c. 105, the city of Charlestown and the other proprietors of lands and flats situated in Charlestown and bounded as there described, were authorized to inclose and fill up a portion of the flats between the north and south channel in Mystic River, and for that purpose were made a corporation with power to hold real and personal estate, by the name of the Mystic River Corporation. By the St. of 1855, e. 481, the right to build warehouses, to lay vessels at the wharves and receive wharfage therefor, was given, and the capital stock of the corporation was fixed, with a proviso that no shares should be issued for a less amount to be paid in than the par value.
The rights granted were thus, by the terms of the act, limited to the riparian proprietors therein named, and under it the city of Charlestown, as the owner of the Hew City Wharf so called, became the owner of a certain share in the flats for the improve
In 1857 the city conveyed to the defendant and Hopkins, Senior, “ copartners,” the New City Wharf, describing it by metes and bounds, together “ with all the flats to which the city is entitled, as owner of the above-described upland and wharf, by an act of the Legislature called the Mystic River Corporation,” and took back a mortgage on the same property of even date and referring to the deed, to secure most of the purchase money. The conditions of this mortgage were not fulfilled, and in 1863 the city made an arrangement that Hopkins, Senior, should occupy the wharf for three years on paying one half the interest, and taxes for that time; but no steps were taken to foreclose the mortgage.
The plaintiff acquired his title by two quitclaim deeds of the same date, one from the city conveying the wharf with all the flats to which the city was entitled by virtue of the' mortgage from the defendant and Hopkins, Senior, and the other from the defendant and Hopkins, Senior, bounding the upland and wharf, with the words, “ also all the flats which we are entitled to as owners of the above-described upland and wharf. Being the same premises conveyed to us by the city of Charlestown,” with the date and registration of the deed referred to. These deeds convey to the plaintiff all the rights of property which were conveyed by the original deed to the defendant and Hopkins, Senior. The reference to that deed, which contains nothing in conflict with the particular description given in the deed to the plaintiff, must be held to enlarge, if necessary, the description in the latter so as to include all that is conveyed by the former deed. Foss v. Crisp, 20 Pick. 121. Whiting v. Dewey, 15 Pick. 428.
The case finds that the corporation recognized the title of the defendant and Hopkins, Senior, under the deed of the city, to the original interest in the flats and to the privileges secured by the
The defendant’s deed to the plaintiff conveying property of this peculiar description, with no words of reservation, is sufficient to transfer all his interest in the Mystic Biver Corporation and its improvements, including his interest in the stock issued; and the plaintiff is entitled therefore to a transfer of the certificates or receipts, as evidence of property which from its peculiar character he would otherwise lose the benefit of, and for the refusal to transfer which the remedy at law would be inadequate. Story Eq. § 703. Duncuft v. Albrecht, 12 Sim. 189, 199.
Decree accordingly, with costs.