Beckman v. Town of Hampton

• Decision Date: 07 November 1906
• Citation: 74 N.H. 48,65 A. 254
• Parties: BECKMAN v. TOWN OF HAMPTON et al.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

65 A. 254

74 N.H. 48

BECKMAN

v. TOWN OF HAMPTON et al.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Rockingham.

Nov. 7, 1906.

Exceptions from Superior Court; Stone, Judge.

Action by Frank E. Beckman against the town of Hampton and another. Verdict for plaintiff, and defendant excepts. Exceptions overruled.

Trespass for breaking and entering the plaintiff's close, and destroying his buildings. Plea of soil and freehold as to the portion of the locus described as "White's Rocks," and the general issue as to the remainder. Verdict for the plaintiff as to that part of the locus described in the plea of soil and freehold, and not guilty as to the remainder. The location of the land was in dispute. The defendants claimed that it was in Hampton, and had never been granted by the town to any individual, and therefore the town owned it; while the plaintiff contended that it was not within the limits of Hampton as originally granted, and therefore the town did not own it As tending to show that it was within the limits of Hampton, and for that purpose only, the defendants were permitted to show by the records of the government of Massachusetts Bay and New England that leave was granted to Steven Bachelder and others to begin a plantation at Winnecunnett, and that subsequently Winnecunnett was allowed to be a town under the name of Hampton; and one French, a witness for the defendants, read from the records as follows: "The court grants that the petitioners, Mr. Steven Bachelder, Christo Hussey, Mary Hussey (13 other names), with divers others, shall have liberty to begin a plantation at Winnecunnett, and Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Wentworth, Jr., and Mr. Rawson, or some two of them, are to assist in setting out the place of the town and apportioning the several quantity of land to each man, so as nothing shall be done without allowance from them or two of them * * * Winnecunnett is allowed to be a town, and hath power to choose a constable and other officers. * * * Winnecunnett shall be called 'Hampton.'"

In his closing argument the plaintiff's counsel made the following remarks, to which the defendants excepted, and the same were not withdrawn or changed: "When the plantation of Hampton was granted, it was granted to Steven Bachelder, Christopher Hussey and others, as Mr. French has named them. The land belonged to those men as proprietors. The proprietary and the municipality were not the same thing. To be sure, they transacted business in the same meetings, and kept their records in the same books until 1729, or some such date. The...