Morse v. Williams

Decided July 1, 1873

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · decided 1873-07-01

On motion for a new trial. Case, alleging that Andrew Morse and his predecessors in title to the premises described in the writ, for more than forty years prior to the first day of July, 1871, had and enjoyed a certain aqueduct, and the right to the water flowing therein, from a spring upon the defendant’s land; but that on the sixth day of July, 1871, said Williams deprived the plaintiff of the aqueduct, and of the use and benefit thereof, by plugging up the pipes, and…

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently February 1892

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1873-07-01

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1Rescript.

¶2The plaintiff claims the title to the spring, which is the fountain from which his aqueduct flows, by prescription.

¶3The preponderance of the testimony shows decidedly that the use of that spring by the plaintiff’s grantor begun under a verbal license from the former owner. There is no testimony tending to show any subsequent change in the use, or that it was at any time inconsistent with the title of the original owner or his grantee. A possession which gives title must be adverse for all the requisite time, and so notorious that the owner may be presumed to have knowledge that it is adverse. Motion sustained.