823 Broad St. v. Marcus

• Decision Date: 09 January 1939
• Citation: 3 A.2d 589
• Parties: 823 BROAD ST. v. MARCUS et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

3 A.2d 589

823 BROAD ST.

v. MARCUS et al.

Supreme Court of New Jersey, Essex County.

Jan. 9, 1939.

Ejectment suit by 823 Broad Street, a corporation, against Manny Marcus and another. On motion for a direction of a verdict of guilty of trespass in favor of plaintiff.

Motion granted.

Before JOSEPH L. SMITH, Judge, and a jury.

Milton M. Unger, of Newark, for plaintiff.

Lum, Tamblyn & Fairlie, of Newark (Ralph E. Lum and J. Raymond Berry, both of Newark, of counsel), for defendants.

JOSEPH L. SMITH, Judge.

This is a motion for a direction of a verdict of guilty of trespass in favor of the plaintiff and against the two defendants in this ejectment suit, wherein the plaintiff is the owner of property commonly known as 823 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, and seeks the ejectment of the two defendants who have maintained and are at present maintaining a newsstand on the sidewalk directly in front of the said premises.

There has been introduced in the case testimony and documentary evidence and historical evidence which tends to show the history of the State of New Jersey, particularly of the northern part of New Jersey and bearing specifically upon the founding of the City of Newark by a group of New Englanders under the leadership of Robert Treat; through negotiations and arrangements with Phillip Carteret, then Governor of New Jersey, for a settlement on the western bank of the Passaic River; their negotiations with the Hackensack Indians and their acquisition from the Indians of a bill of sale covering premises now comprising the City of Newark; their settlement upon the premises and the obtaining of patents from Governor Carteret and his successors, and those administering his estate.

From all of this it appears that the premises in question were originally a part of a lot set aside as burial ground.

The present plaintiff acquired its title to premises No. 823 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, directly from Helen Grand. This deed from the said Grand to the plaintiff, describes the property as beginning at the intersection of the westerly line of Broad Street with the southerly line of Branford Place; in other words, the description covers up to the building line of the two streets, Broad Street and Branford Place. The evidence shows, without dispute, an unbroken chain of title of record beginning in 1811 to date. Nowhere in the chain of title, either in conveyances of record since 1811, or prior thereto, as shown by historical research, is there any express reservation or exception from conveyance of the property from the building line to the middle of the highway, namely, Broad Street, and it is a well established rule that when, in a conveyance of land, the premises are described as beginning at a point in the side of a street, and as running thence along such side, the street, to its center, will be held by legal presumption to be embraced, and under ordinary conditions nothing short of express words of exclusion will prevent the street in front of the premises conveyed from passing. This was the rule laid down in 1877 by Chief Justice Beasley, in Salter v. Jonas, 39 N.J.L. 469, 23 Am.Rep. 229. In that case, as in the present, the lot in question was described as running along the side line of the street. Holding that half of the street passed with the lot that was thus bounded on its side, Chief Justice Beasley adopted the reasoning of...