Lowndes v. Board of Trustees of the Town of Huntington

Decision Date16 April 1894
Docket NumberNo. 117,117
Citation153 U.S. 1,38 L.Ed. 615,14 S.Ct. 758
PartiesLOWNDES v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE TOWN OF HUNTINGTON
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

This was an action by the board of trustees of the town of Huntington against Theodore Lowndes to recover possession of certain lands under water, brought in a court of the state of New York, and removed to the United States circuit court. That court directed a verdict for plaintiff (40 Fed. 625), and judgment was entered thereon. Defendant brings error.

On September 1, 1888, the defendant in error commenced an action in the supreme court of the state of New York for the county of Suffolk. Its complaint alleged that 'the trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the town of Huntington and their successors' were a body corporate, created and incorporated by and under three charters granted,—the first by Richard Nicolls, governor general under James, duke of York, of all his territories in America, and dated November 30, 1666; the second by Thomas Dongan, governor general of the province of New York under James the Second, king of England, and dated August 2, 1688; and the third by Benjamin Fletcher, governor general under William and Mary, and dated October 5, 1694.

It also alleged that the plaintiff was the lawful successor of the said trustees, etc., and as such, and by virtue of said patents and charters, and the laws of the state of New York, was the lawful owner and seised in fee, subject to the right of navigation, of a certain described tract of land of about 300 acres, lying under water in Huntington bay, in the town of Huntington, and that as such owner it was entitled to the exclusive possession and use thereof for oyster cultivation.

The complaint further charged that the defendant had theretofore exercised, and still exercised, acts of ownership upon said lands, and claimed title thereto and a right to the exclusive possession thereof; that he had planted, or caused to be planted, oysters thereon, and unlawfully withheld the lands from the plaintiff.

There was also an allegation of notice to quit, and a prayer for judgment against the defendant for the immediate and exclusive control of the premises. The defendant, who was a citizen of the state of Connecticut, having been brought in by publication, removed the case to the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of New York. In that court he filed an answer denying plaintiff's title, and pleading possession since 1866. Thereafter, on the 14th of November, 1889, the case was tried before a jury, and at the close thereof the court directed a verdict for the plaintiff. On the verdict a judgment was duly rendered, and to reverse such judgment this writ of error was sued out.

The map below shows the locality of the disputed premises. The defendant's oyester bed is marked A Jas. C. Carter, for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 4-18 intentionally omitted]

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David B. Hill, N. S. Ackerley, C. R. Street, and Thos. R. Young, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

The questions in this case are mainly of a local character, in respect to which the settled rule of decision in the courts of the state is controlling. They relate to the form of the action, the title of the plaintiff to submerged lands in Huntington bay, and the special defenses of the defendant.

By section 914, Rev. St., the practice, forms, and mode of proceedings in actions at law in the federal courts are required to conform as nearly as may be to those in the state courts.

The present action is one in the nature of an action of ejectment, and to secure to the plaintiff the undisturbed control of the tract in controversy. In the state of New York there is but one form of action, the plaintiff being required by the statutes of that state to set forth in his petition the facts upon which he bases his cause of action, and the relief is given according to the facts as stated and proved.

In a certain sense these submerged lands are not in the actual possession of any one; but section 1502 of the Code of Civil Procedure of New York provides for just such an exigency. It reads: 'Where the complaint demands judgment for the immediate possession of the property, if the property is actually occupied, the occupant thereof must be made defendant in the action. If it is not so occupied, the action must be brought against some person exercising acts of ownership thereupon, or claiming title thereto, or an interest therein at the time of the commencement of the action.'-

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The defendant, claiming the right to occupy this submerged land for the cultivation of oysters, must be deemed to have been in the actual possession thereof, or, if not, as exercising acts of ownership thereupon and claiming an interest therein. Under those circumstances he was properly made a defendant in an action to secure to the plaintiff the immediate possession of the premises. Such an action is recognized as appropriate in New York. Trustees, etc., of the Town of Southampton v. Mecox Bay Oyster Co., 116 N. Y. 1, 22 N. E. 387, and cases cited in the opinion.

With respect to the matter of title, there are involved not merely the construction of public grants and charters, but also the extent and purposes to and for which the title and control of submerged lands may be passed away from the state to towns and individuals. The question is of the rights attaching to certain lands within the territorial limits of the state, and whatever becomes a settled rule of real property by the decisions of its courts is conclusive on this court. Bondurant v. Watson, 103 U. S. 281, 289; Burgess v. Seligman, 107 U. S. 20, 33, 2 Sup. Ct. 10; Gage v. Pumpelly, 115 U. S. 454, 6 Sup. Ct. 136; Hardin v. Jordan, 140 U. S. 371, 382, 402, 11 Sup. Ct. 808, 838; Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U. S. ——, 14 Sup. Ct. 548.

The title of the plaintiff rests primarily on the three charters referred to in the complaint, and which were admitted in evidence. Those charters are grants of both territory and corporate franchises. The description in the first, that from Gov. Nicolls, is as follows:

'All ye Lands that already have been or hereafter shall bee Purchased for and on the behalfe of the said Towne of Huntington whether from the Natives Proprietors or others within the Limitts and Bounds herein exprest (vizt) that is to say from a Certaine River or Creeke on the west comonly called by the Indyans by the Name of Nackaquatack and by the English the Coldspring to Stretch Eastward to Nasaquack River on the North to bee Bounded by the Sound runing betwixt Long Island and the Maine and on ye South by the Sea Including there Nine Severall Necks of Meadow Ground all wch Tract of Land together with the sd Necks thereunto Belonging wthin the Bounds and Limitts aforesaid and all or any Plantacon there upon are to belong to the said Towne of

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Huntington as also all Havens Harbours Creekes Quarryes Woodland Meadowes Pastures Marshes Waters Lakes ffishing Hawking Hunting and ffowling And all other Proffitts, Commodityes, Emolumts, and Hereditamts to the said Land and prmisses within the Limitts and Bounds aforementioned described belonging or in any wise appertaining To have & to hold the said Lands and Necks of Lands Hereditamts and prmisses with their and every of their Appurtenances and of every Part & Parcell thereof to the said Patentees and their Associates to the proper use and behoofe of the said Patentees and their Associates their Heires Successors and Assignes forever; And I do likewise hereby Confirme and Graunt unto the said Patentees and their Associates their Heires Successors and Assignes all the Priviledges belonging to a Towne within this Governmt and that the Place of their present Habitacon shal. continue and retaine the Name of Huntington by wch name it shall bee distinguisht and knowne in all Bargaines and Sales Deedes Records and Writings.'

The second charter, that from Gov. Dongan, is a confirmation of the first, and the description is substantially the same. The third, from Gov. Fletcher, refers to the prior charter from Gov. Nicolls, and recites a petition of the freeholders, inhabitants of the town of Huntington, for a 'Grant and Confirmation of the Premisses so only as that the Limits & Bounds of the sayd Towne of Huntingtone shall not be as above mentioned but as hereafter Expressed,' and then grants by a description as follows:

'Bounded on the West by a River Called & known by the Name of Cold Spring a Lyne Runing South from the Head of the sayd Cold Spring to the South Sea & on the North by the Sound that Runns between our sayd Isld of Nassaw and the maine Continent & on the East by a Lyne Runing from the West syde of a Pond called & known be the Name of fresh Pond to West syde of Whitmans Dale or Hollow and from thence to a River on the South syde of our sayd Island of Nassaw on the East syde of a Neck called Sumpawwawins and from the sayd River Runing South to the sayd South Sea Togither with all and Singular the Houses

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Messuages Tenements Buildings Mills Mill damms fencing Inclosures Gardens Orchards fields Pastures Feedings Woods Underwoods Trees Timber Comon of Pasture Meadows Marshes Swamps Plaines Rivers Rivoletts Waters Lakes Ponds Brooks Streams Beaches Quarries Creeks Harbors Highways & Easements fishing fowleing hunting and hawking Mines Mineralls (Silver and Gold Mines Excepted) & all other franchised Profits benefits Comoditys & Hereditaments whatsoever to the sayd Tract of Land within the Limits and Bounds next above mentioned belonging or in any ways appertaining or there with all used Accepted Reputed or taken to belong or in any ways Appertaine to all intents and Purposes and Constructions w'tsoever and also all & Singular the Rents Arrearages of Rents Issues and Profits of the sayd Tract of Land & Premisses heretofore due and Payable.'

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