151 A. 305 | Conn. | 1930
With reference to the first claim, the law is well settled that where an owner of land causes a map to be made of it upon which are delineated separate lots and streets and highways by which access may be had to them, and then sells the lots, referring in his conveyances to the map, the lot owners acquire the right to have the streets and highways thereafter kept open for use in connection with their lands.Derby v. Alling,
If we turn to the map before us we find that the street in question is bounded upon the railroad right of way upon the east, over which there is no crossing; that it terminates in a dead end, and furnishes no means of access to any other way; nor is there in the record any suggestion that when the map was made or now there is a likelihood of such a means of access being opened in the future. The only use which the lot owners of the tract would make of it would be to give access to the few lots abutting upon it, and if they went upon it for that purpose, that would be an incident of the use of those lots and not of their own occupancy of other lots in the tract. From the north line of Union Street, projected easterly to the railroad right of way, none of the defendants have any right to require this street to be left for future development as a highway. A different situation exists as to the land south of that line and forming a continuation of Union Street easterly to the railroad *35 right of way, for one of the lots in the tract not owned by the plaintiff abuts upon it and the owner of that lot has an undoubted right to require that this portion of the street be kept open. Rodgers v. Parker, 75 Mass. (9 Gray) 445.
The contention of the defendants that the lands of the plaintiff are subject to their right to enforce against them the requirements contained in the stipulations we have quoted is rested upon the claim that J. M. B. Whitton adopted a general plan for the development of the tract in which was included the imposition of this burden upon the various lots into which it was divided, under circumstances making it enforceable between the lot owners. This doctrine we fully recognize in this State. Baker v. Lunde,
Previous to the filing of the map in 1871, Joseph M. B. Whitton had conveyed ten lots by deeds containing the stipulation in its first form. Within about a month thereafter he conveyed ten more lots, by three deeds, containing the stipulation in its second form. A year later he began to make conveyances without restrictions or conditions and within the next five years deeds in this form were made of five lots by number and others — how many cannot be determined upon the record — by descriptions having no reference to the map. Disregarding the deeds to the church, executed considerably later, without conditions or restrictions comparable with those in the earlier deeds, it thus appears that of the fifty-four lots in the tract only twenty were conveyed subject to either of the stipulations. This falls far short of the putting into effect by the grantor of any general plan or scheme with reference to the lots in the tract. If we turn to the stipulation in its earlier form we find that the first clause in it, and the one which from its position may fairly be regarded *38 as expressing the thought uppermost in the mind of the grantor, was not stated in the usual terms of a prohibition against the erection upon the lots of buildings costing less than a certain sum but was an affirmative requirement that dwellings costing not less than the amount named must be erected upon the lots. The first deed fixes eighteen months within which this must be done, and while in the later deeds the number of months is left blank, the stipulation is otherwise the same. Such a requirement points strongly to a purpose on the part of the grantor to hasten the development of the tract and increase the salability of the lots by providing for the speedy erection of houses of a certain type. The change in the stipulation to the more usual form of restrictions forbidding the erection of houses costing less than the sum named came only after ten lots had been sold, all in the tract westerly of the railroad, and is susceptible of explanation upon the ground that the grantor felt that the primary purpose he had in mind had been sufficiently accomplished or was affecting adversely the sales of other lots. To these considerations must be added one of great weight arising out of the form of the stipulation in all of the deeds, which was not only expressed as a condition, but specifically gave the right to re-enter upon a breach to the "grantor or his legal representatives." In such a situation it is not reasonably possible to find that Joseph M. B. Whitton adopted any such general plan or scheme for the development of the tract as would create as among the various lot owners a right to enforce among themselves the provisions of the stipulation or to impose them upon lands now owned by the plaintiff which never were in terms subjected to them.
The very brief finding of the trial court contains a number of conclusions of law or ultimate conclusions from the subordinate facts before it which the plaintiff *39 seeks to have stricken out by a motion to correct. These conclusions have been sufficiently dealt with in the foregoing opinion. The other corrections sought in the finding are not material in the view we take of the case.
There is error and the case is remanded with direction to enter judgment for the plaintiff in accordance with this opinion.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.