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99 Mass. 14

Clark v. Wheelock

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided January 15, 1868

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1868-01-15

<p>If a tenant at -will underlets and surrenders possession to his undertenant, notice to the latter of a subsequent written lease for years from the owner, and to quit forthwith, is sufficient to sustain an action brought against him twelve days afterwards by the lessee for years for possession of the premises.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1868-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently June 1930

4 state decisions

2018681870188018901900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Gray, J.

¶1Upon the view of this case most favorable to the defendant, his exceptions cannot be sustained. As Kern was but a tenant at will, and his verbal lease and surrender of possession to Wheelock included all his interest in the premises, it would seem that his tenancy at will was at an end as soon as his transfer became known to his landlord, the owner of the land, unless the latter saw fit to recognize Wheelock as his tenant. Chandler v. Thurston, 10 Pick. 209. Cooper v. Adams, 6 Cush. 90, 91. But if any tenancy at will existed after such transfer, either in Kern or Wheelock, it was terminated by the subsequent lease for years from the owner; and the utmost notice of this alienation which could be required to give it effect, and to authorize the maintenance of this process, would be a reasonable notice to the occupant of the estate to enable him to remove himself and his effects. Kern having surrendered the occupation to Wheelock, notice to the latter wmuld affect both him and Kern; and the twelve days allowed, after the written notice to Wheelock, before bringing this action, were more than sufficient. Pratt v. Farrar, 10 Allen, 519, and cases cited. Alexander v. Carew, 13 Allen, 70. Exceptions overruled.

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