Blain v. Craigie, 82

• Decision Date: 06 September 1940
• Docket Number: June Term, 1940.,No. 82,82
• Parties: BLAIN v. CRAIGIE et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

294 Mich. 545

293 N.W. 745

BLAIN

v.CRAIGIE et al.

No. 82, June Term, 1940.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Sept. 6, 1940.

Action by Alexander W. Blain to restrain Charles C. Craigie and Charles L. Langs from using that portion of a dock extending beyond a 30-foot line, and for a mandatory injunction to compel the removal thereof. From an adverse decree, plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.Appeal from Circuit Court, Oakland County, in Chancery; George B. Hartrick, Judge.

Argued before the Entire Bench.

Bethune D. Blain, of Detroit, for appellant.

George A. Cram, of Pontiac, for appellees.

CHANDLER, Justice.

Part of the facts involved in this controversy are set forth in Grant v. Craigie, 292 Mich. 658, 291 N.W. 44. The agreement of April 9, 1892, mentioned therein, between Blain and Windiate, relative to the so-called ‘Blain ends' of the lots, provided that, ‘at any time within ten years from the date hereof, whenever and as often as said Alfred Windiate shall make sale of any lot or lots on said lake front, upon the payment of one dollar per foot front for the lots so sold, to deed to said Alfred Windiate or to the purchasers of said lots all that part of said northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section six (6) lying between said lots sold and a line in said lake parallel with the low water mark and thirty (30) feet distant therefrom, and also to grant to the holders and owners of said lot or lots the free use forever of the waters of said lake included in said northeast quarter of northeast quarter of Section six (6) for boating and fishing purposes, and for cutting ice for their use.’

On March 21, 1894, Windiate sold and conveyed to Horace Huntoon and his wife lots 19 and 20 of Windiate Park, and Blain, pursuant to the above-mentioned agreement, conveyed to said purchasers the land lying between said lots and Lotus Lake, the conveyance reading as follows: ‘All that portion of land being one hundred (100) feet in width extending from and being a continuation of lots munbered Nineteen (19) and Twenty (20) of Windiate's Subdivision (according to the recorded plat thereof) and continuing into Lotus Lake (so-called) thirty (30) feet from the low water mark thereof, * * * And the parties of the second part shall have the right of cutting ice for their own use and the privilege of fishing and boating in front of the North East quarter of the North East quarter.’

On October 8, 1904, Windiate conveyed lots 18 and 21 to Charles W. Hunt, and Blain conveyed to the said Hunt the adjoining land in section six, his deed describing the property as being bounded on the west by a line 30 feet distant from the low-water mark of the lake. The deed also granted the free use of the waters of the lake for boating, fishing and for cutting ice.

Subsequently, title to the mentioned lots passed to defendant Craigie, defendant Langs being his lessee.

The dispute herein concerns the right of defendants to maintain a dock constructed into the lake from lot 19. It appears from the record that in 1893 Horace Huntoon first constructed a small dock into the lake which was used in connection with a hotel operated by him on lots 19 and 20. From this time until the present, a dock has been located at the point in question, the length thereof being gradually extended until it now reaches the bank of a channel in the lake some 108 feet from the shore. For more than 15 years prior to the institution of this suit, the dock extended into the lake for at least 75 feet, the additional footage having been added within such 15-year period.

Plaintiff, the son of Alexander W. Blain, Sr., the former owner and grantor of the ‘Blain ends', owns an island located in the lake, some six or seven hundred feet from defendants' property, upon which he has a...