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104 Me. 453

Noyes v. Goding

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Decided November 27, 1908

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1908-11-27

<p> Deed. Reservation of Trees. Executory Contract. </p> <p>The defendants by deed of warranty dated May 2, 1904, conveyed certain" land to the plaintiff. The deed contained the following clause: “Excepting and reserving, however, from the above described premises all the pine trees now growing on the same, with the right for the same to remain for a period of two years from date of this-deed and not longer.” In December, 1907, the defendant entered the premises conveyed by them as aforesaid to the plaintiff and cut and carried away certain of the pine trees standing and growing thereon.</p> <p>Held: That the clause permitting the removal of the pine trees was an executory contract, the performance of which was to be consummated within two years from the date of the deed and that at the expiration of the two years the right of the defendants to remove the trees had expired.</p>

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently May 1915

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Judgment for plaintiff · Decided 1908-11-27

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Spear, J.

¶1This is an action of trespass quare clausum. The plaintiff purchased the locus in quo of the defendants by deed dated May 2, 1904. It was an ordinary warranty deed containing the following clause: "Excepting and reserving, however, from the above described premises, all the pine trees now growing on the same, with the right for the same to remain for a period of two years from date of this deed and not longer.”

¶2It is admitted that the timber purporting to be reserved, was cut in December 1907 against the objection of the plaintiff. No plainer language could be used, calculated to fix the defendants’ rights, than that contained in the reserving clause. The trees were all the time a part of the realty. The clause permitting their removal was an executory contract, the performance of which was to be consummated within two years from the date of the deed. At the end of that time, the contract was self-terminating, and the deed then had precisely the same effect touching the trees as if no reservation had ever been made. At the expiration of two years, the defendants’ right to remove them had ceased. Pease et al. v. Gibson, 6 Maine, 81; Donworth v. Sawyer, 94 Maine, 242; Emerson et als. v. Shores, 95 Maine, 237 and Erskine v. Savage, 96 Maine, 57.

¶3In accordance with the stipulation in the report, the entry must be,

¶4 Judgment for the plaintifffor $87.

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