Muskeget Island Club v. Town of Nantucket

• Decision Date: 09 March 1904
• Citation: 185 Mass. 303,70 N.E. 61
• Parties: MUSKEGET ISLAND CLUB v. TOWN OF NANTUCKET.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

185 Mass. 303

70 N.E. 61

MUSKEGET ISLAND CLUB v. TOWN OF NANTUCKET.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Bristol.

March 9, 1904

COUNSEL

Harvey N. Shepard, for plaintiff.

Elder & Whitman, for defendant.

OPINION

HAMMOND J.

The question whether a witness offered as an expert is qualified to testify as such is to be decided by the presiding justice as a question of fact, and his decision is conclusive unless upon the evidence it appears erroneous in law. Perkins v Stickney, 132 Mass. 217. We cannot say that in coming to the conclusion that the several witnesses called by the petitioner were qualified the judge erred in law. In each case the evidence justified the finding. But we think that the evidence as to Folger did not warrant his exclusion. He testified that he had lived in Nantucket over 60 years, and for the last 17 years had held town offices, prior to which time he had been a farmer for 26 years; that he had known a great deal of all kinds of land in Nantucket, and had bought and sold for himself and other people; that he knew only by hearsay whether land had been sold for shooting places on the sandy beaches, but had heard of some sales on Eel Point for that purpose. He further testified that he had been an assessor of the town of Nantucket for six years, being the years 1888 to 1891, both inclusive, 1896 and 1897, and in that capacity had assessed the island of Muskeget; that he never had visited Muskeget, but had visited the Island of Tuckernuck and Eel Point and Smith Point, the western points of Nantucket, where his father had lived. He also testified that, while he never had been on Muskeget he had sailed within half a mile of it; that he knew it was a sand heap; that he knew nothing of the shooting there except from his friends 'who go shooting there'; and that he had seen a great deal of shooting on Smith and Eel Points, and had been there a great many times. Wo do not understand that any of these statements are taken to be untrue, or that the witness was excluded upon the ground of mental infirmity from age or any other cause. Here then, is a man who has been a resident of the town for 60 years, for 26 years of which time he was a farmer; who has traded to a considerable extent for himself and others in land situated in the town; who has seen the land in question, and knows its situation and general character; who is somewhat acquainted with shooting in that vicinity; who has held important town...