Hopkins v. Smith

• Decision Date: 30 November 1894
• Citation: 38 N.E. 1122,162 Mass. 444
• Parties: HOPKINS v. SMITH et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

162 Mass. 444

38 N.E. 1122

HOPKINS v. SMITH et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Dukes County.

November 30, 1894

Following are the findings of fact:

"In this case the court finds that some time prior to August 3 1867, the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company was seised in fee of a large tract of land, known as 'Oak Bluffs,' situate in that part of Edgartown now known as the town of 'Cottage City.' This tract lay between land of the Martha's Vineyard Camp-Meeting Association, on the west, and Vineyard Sound, on the east, and was eligible for residential purposes. August 3, 1867, said company preparatory to placing said land on the market for sale caused a plan thereof to be made by Robt. Morris Copeland dividing it into lots, all of which were numbered. The streets, avenues, and parks were also shown on this plan. Lithographic representations of certain styles of cottages, with their proposed cost, also appeared upon the plan. The plan was duly filed in the registry of deeds for said county. The lots were then put upon the market for sale, under a form of deed prepared by the company, and used by it in all its conveyances of house lots. August 18, 1868, said company sold lot numbered thirty-one on said plan, on Penobscot avenue, subsequently known as 'Ocean Avenue,' to John W. Cornell. This lot, by mesne conveyances, is now owned by the plaintiff, and is the first lot described in his bill of complaint. This lot was referred to and described in said deed as 'numbered 31 Penobscot avenue, on a plan of said lands drawn by R. Morris Copeland, and placed with Dukes county deeds.' This deed, among other things, contained the following clause in the granting part thereof: 'This conveyance is made upon the following conditions, the nonfulfillment or breach of any one of which shall work a forfeiture of the estate hereby conveyed, and reinvest the same in the grantor, viz.: The said grantee shall, within one year from the date hereof, cause to be erected on the premises granted a dwelling house, to be exclusively used as a residence for a private family, and no other buildings, except the necessary outbuildings requisite and to be used exclusively for domestic purposes, shall ever be erected thereon; and the said grantor shall have the refusal of said granted premises whenever offered for sale by the said grantee, their heirs or assigns. Neither spirituous nor intoxicating or malt liquors shall be made, sold, or kept for sale on the granted premises. No games of chance shall be played for money or any other consideration on the granted premises. No mechanical trade, manufacturing, or public trading shall be carried on on the granted premises. The provisions of the fifty-ninth chapter of the statutes of Massachusetts for the year 1867 shall be strictly observed on the granted premises. The said granted premises shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the Martha's Vineyard Camp-Meeting Association during the time specified in the above-mentioned fifty-ninth chapter of the statutes for the continuance of their religious meetings. It is agreed that the erection and location of all buildings on said granted premises shall be subject to the approval of said corporation.' December 10, 1868, said company, by deed in similar form, and same conditions, sold and conveyed lot 29 on said plan to John W. Lovell. By mesne conveyances this lot, at and before the filing of this bill of complaint, was vested in fee in the defendants. The deed of lot thirty-one was recorded September 25, 1868; that of lot twenty-nine, June 7, 1869. All mesne conveyances, as to each lot, referred to the restrictions contained in said deeds of said company. Lots thirty-one and twenty-nine abut on the east and west sides, respectively. Lot twenty-nine is bounded westerly by lot number thirty-one, and lot thirty-one is bounded easterly by lot twenty-nine. Dwelling houses for private families were built on each lot, and occupied, and were so used and improved, at the time of filing the bill of complaint, by the parties thereto.

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