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4 Ohio 351

Carter v. Longworth

Ohio Supreme Court

Decided December 15, 1829

Ohio Supreme Court · decided 1829-12-15

This was a suit in chancery, reserved for .decision by the Supreme Court in Hamilton county. The bill was filed in the court of common pleas, and set forth that the plaintiff, some time in 1816, purchased of one William Stewart, a certain lot of ground in Cincinnati, for the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars, and received from Stewart a deed of general warranty.

Relies on Lansing v. Eddy · 5 Johns. Ch. 184 - Higinbotham v. Burnet

Decided 1829-12-15

By the Court :

¶1If the defendants are bound to answer any part of the bill, the demurrer, being entire to the whole bill, must be overruled. A demurrer, bad in part, is bad in toto. 1 Ves. 248; 1 Atk. 450; 2 Atk. 44; Mad. Ch. 226; 1 Johns. Ch. 51; 5 Johns. Ch. 186. (a)

¶2*The main question intended to be presented by the demurrer, whether a scire facias binds subsequent incumbrances, need not be determined. The bill charges “ a fraudulent concealment of title, while the complainant was making improvement.” A demurrer to such charge of fraud is bad. In the case of Higingbothem v. Burnet, 5 Johns. Ch. 184, the bill charged that the party in interest stood by and saw great and costly improvements made upon the land, by persons claiming and believing themselves to be owners in fee, and never interposed any pretension of right or *353title. There was a demurrer to the whole bill, which was overruled, because the charge amounted to an imposition and fraud. Here the charge of fraud is direct and positive, and must be met otherwise than by a demurrer.

¶3Demurrer overruled.

¶4 Contra, 2 Bibb, 484.

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