Sayles v. Hall

• Decision Date: 29 November 1911
• Citation: 96 N.E. 712,210 Mass. 281
• Parties: SAYLES et al. v. HALL.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

210 Mass. 281

96 N.E. 712

SAYLES et al. v. HALL.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Dukes County.

November 29, 1911

On August 3, 1867, the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company, a corporation, being seised in fee of a tract of land in that part of Edgartown now comprised in the town of Oak Bluffs commonwealth of Massachusetts, caused the same to be laid out into house lots, streets, avenues, and parks, according to a plan which was recorded with the register of deeds for Dukes county, a copy of which is made a part hereof, and the said lots were placed upon the market for sale, and the deeds prepared by the company and used by it in all its conveyances of all the said lots which are situated on Ocean avenue in Oak Bluffs were the same in form and contained the following conditions:

'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 granted premises, a dwelling house, to be used exclusively as a residence, for a private family, and no other buildings except the necessary out buildings 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 said grantee ----- heirs or assigns. Neither spirituous, intoxicating nor malt liquors shall be made, sold, or kept for sale on the granted premises. No game 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 subjected 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. The erection and location of all buildings on said granted premises shall be subject to the approval of the said corporation. No building shall be erected within ten feet of the front line nor within five feet of the side lines of said lot. No tent or cloth covered building shall be erected on said lot.'

The complainants are the present owners of lot 34, and the respondent of lot 36, on said Ocean avenue, being adjoining lots, both holding by mesne conveyances under said form of deed. Dwelling houses were erected on said lots within one year by the original grantees. The dwelling on lot 34, Ocean avenue, has been used up to the present time as a residence for a private family. The dwelling on said lot 36 was used up to June, 1908, as a residence for a private family. On June 9, 1908, the respondent purchased said lot No. 36. Both complainants and respondent used the dwellings on the said lots only during the summer and autumn seasons. During the season of 1908 the respondent kept three boarders in the dwelling on said lot No. 36. During the summer of 1909, the respondent let her said dwelling house on said lot No. 36 to a private family. During the autumn of 1909 the respondent kept two or three boarders in said dwelling on said lot No 36. During the season of 1910 and 1911 the respondent occupied the dwelling house as her residence and kept boarders and let rooms in the dwelling house on said lot No 36, the boarders and roomers averaging in number about 12 persons at any one time, and the average stay of the individual boarders or roomers was 2 weeks excepting as to a few, who remained throughout the season. About one-half the roomers and boarders kept by the respondent in the dwelling house on said lot No. 36 were friends of the respondent, and for that reason were only charged about the exact cost of their keep. The other boarders and roomers kept by the respondent in the dwelling on said lot No. 36 paid the full price. The respondent did not place any sign on said dwelling on said lot No. 36 or advertise in any way or make known to the public that she kept boarders or roomers in the said dwelling on said lot No. 36. The first knowledge that the complainants had that the respondent furnished lodgings as aforesaid was in the fall of 1910, just after the close of the autumn season. In the latter part of June, 1911, the complainants for the first time were convinced that the respondent was furnishing board and rooms as aforesaid. On July...