Blakemore v. Stanley

• Decision Date: 05 April 1893
• Citation: 159 Mass. 6,33 N.E. 689
• Parties: BLAKEMORE v. STANLEY et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

159 Mass. 6

33 N.E. 689

BLAKEMORE v. STANLEY et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

April 5, 1893

The bill alleged that plaintiff had conveyed certain lots to defendants by a deed providing that "for ten years from January 1, 1891, no building shall be erected other than dwellings, with necessary outbuildings, said dwellings to cost not less than $2,000 each, and all of said buildings to be not less than 20 feet from street line." The bill alleged that defendants, in violation of this clause, had placed on the lots a stable and a tent, costing less than $2,000, in which defendants live, said tent being fitted up with a stove and other furniture, and used for a dwelling by defendants. The answer admitted the erection of the stable, but alleged that it was a necessary outbuilding and further alleged that the tent was placed on the lot for a temporary purpose, and not as a permanent dwelling.

The following is the report of the justice of the superior court (John W. Hammond:) "At the trial I found that the plaintiff, by a warranty deed in the usual form, dated September 28, 1891, conveyed to the defendants the lots named in the bill and on the plan referred to, subject to said restrictions; that in March, 1892, the defendants placed or moved onto the lots Nos. 81 and 82 a barn or stable about twelve feet wide, and twenty to twenty-five feet long and eight feet high, covered with common boards, which they have since used as a stable, keeping three horses in it; that said barn was erected to be used as a stable in connection with said tent, and with a dwelling house, if one was ever erected thereon; that there was no intention on the part of the defendants to erect such dwelling house soon that defendants soon after placed a tent on said lots, about ten by twelve feet square, and have since used it to live in with their family, but not to sleep in, it being fitted up with a cook stove and other furniture; that said tent is placed on said lots temporarily, the defendants living in their own house in Somerville in the winter. That said lots are part of a large lot of land divided on said plan into about two hundred and thirty house lots, situated on Washington and Beech streets, in that part of Boston called Roslindale; that the lands on Washington and Beech streets in the immediate neighborhood of said premises are partly built up and occupied by dwelling houses; that prior to the placing of said stable and tent on said lots by the defendants the plaintiff had sold about three...