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38 Me. 429

Jordan v. Otis

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

Decided July 1, 1854

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1854-07-01

On' Exceptions from Nisi Prius, Appleton, J., presiding. Trespass. The parties were owners of two saw-mills in Ellsworth, situated within one or two feet of each other. They derived title from the same grantors, but the plaintiff’s title was the elder, and by his deed was conveyed to him, “ the saw-mill,” &c. It appeared in evidence, that the mills were under different roofs, and had no connection above the bed or floor of the mills.

Decided 1854-07-01

Hathaway, J.

¶1— The mills of the plaintiff and the defendant were on the same dam, and, above their foundation, were one or two feet apart. The parties derived title from the same grantors; the plaintiff by deed, Dec. 1, 1846; the defendant by deed, March 6, 1847. The two mills rested on a foundation of timbers, so interlocked, that the cutting away of the floor timbers of the plaintiff’s mill from the streak sill of the defendant’s, would cause the plaintiff’s mill to settle, and fall unless otherwise supported. The mills were thus situated when the plaintiff received his deed. The foundation of the plaintiff’s mill, as it was, when he purchased, was necessary for the use, and for the support of the mill, and by his deed, lie acquired the right to have it remain, as it then was, during the existence of the mill, if it should endure so long, and the defendant had no right to remove or impair it to the plaintiff’s injury.

¶2If the defendant wished to alter or repair his mill he had an undoubted right to do so, but not in such manner, as to destroy or injure the foundation of the plaintiff’s mill, and that too without giving him any notice.

¶3The testimony of Seth Tisdale was properly excluded. *432The authorities cited by the defendant’s counsel do not sustain its admissibility. The plaintiff has the elder title and his deed is free from ambiguity.

¶4Exceptions overruled. — Judgment on the verdict.

Shepley, C. J., and Tenney, and Howard, J. J., concurred.
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