The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-04-16 00:00:00

WINFRIT a NEWBURGH.
A DISPIJ FED TITLE

At the Wareham C minty Court yuterdav (We4nesla7)
Judge Lefroy was engaged for some considerable time in
bearing an action brou:hr by Kmert Tens, • thatcher, of
Winfrith Heath. against Joseph Wiltshire Toms, a mason,
of Winfrit.b. The plaintiff claimed 10s. for damngee
!pal. and injury dote bY defendant on the Ilth of
Pebruary last by throwing down and uprooting a badge
and fence, as well as cwting down three plum trees on •
rtem a 'he e,tilre ,oP ro rty at Winfritb ; also ss.
ot"; datnaje ne, rpo, auu injury ilone by defendant ou tie
20th of arch lest by thro sing down a hedge and fence .
ou a portion of the plain, itTs property at %Vinfrith. Toe
defendant tiled a siecesol defence, in which he denied
having iutic. the plaineff any datuage, and contendei that
be had no grounds for an art, e. By way of further
defence defendant denied the ii'aintire title to the pro-
party on which the I"bie, fence, And treee were situate,
and delisted the same by virtue of leases and asogrouents
(doted respectively the 3rd of May, ISIS, the 211 t). of Jute,
1842, and the 25te of Muck 1345, w..ero,y the premises
in question were and are at tee present time vested in
the defendant and of which he is the sole legal owner.—
Mr. &I. C. Weston. of Dorchester appeared for the
plantar, and Mr. It. N. Howard, of iir.ituoutti, was for
the defendant. The acts of onnruitting the damage were
not disputed, and Mr. Howard therefore opened his
case tint. He produeed a bees dated the 3rd of May, Dal,
under which the late Mr. Thomas Weld granted a odium
and premises to John and big !aro sona, Joseph
Wiltshire Tone and Henry Toms, for their lives. Mr.
Howard also produced • tIOC.Y. at, dated the 20th of June,
1842, in which John Tom. ....ignet the property to the
def. mien; Joseph Wiltshire Tonic The pla&ntltf K bert
Toms, eleinsel to have become possessed to • imrtion of
the property through his late wife Ann Tow who was a
sister tut the defendant—The defendant. Joseph Wiltshire
Torus. said he was alonnlJ,,bn Tous, the lessee under
the tease produced. lle had two bit:where. Henri and
John, end twoeietoes. S ',411 and Atm, the latter of whom
!warned the plaintiff, Robert lotus. Oti the 20th of
June, 1842, his father asst.:tied the property SO hills by the
deed profaned, which we prepared by Mr. Bartlett, • ,
solicitor, of Wareham. Hit father died in August of the
same year. His father had uot much else to leave and he
never saw • will. His sister Anu died 10 or 13 years ado,
and did not leave any children. Her husband had been
twice married since then. The cottage was divided into •
two tenements at the death of has father, and hi, brother
John lived iu one and Wdli rui Ansford in the other.
John died, and now occupied the house. Ansford paid
him rent as did also Mary Cadets and John Hurst, the
two next tenants. Ultimately his sister Ann lived in the
house with his permission, on the understanding that she
wet to keep the house in repair and pay the lord's rent,
in lieu of rent. His was pretty well to do, and did not
trouble about the property until Robert Toms claimed it
at the Court of Survey aiout two year* ago.—
Crone-examined by Mr. Weston : There was an argreement
bets een him and his father that he was to provide •
home for his mother and sister. Joseph Mortimer and
Robert Toms were witnes•es to the assignment, but
Mortimer wan not witness to • will. His steer Ann was
housekeeper to /dr. Ledgard, the banker, at Poole, at the
time of the assignment, and be heard she lent her father
money occasionally. He did not know whether she paid
pert of the money for the weignment His mother and
brother John might have paid towards it. He was not
instructed by his father to get the property unsigned to
Ann, and be did not subotitute his own name, knowing
that his father was an illiterate man. He had never
admitted that he had done this. His sister Ann sent for
him when she was dying, but she did not tell him on her
deathb—l that Henry Toms had told her he (Joseph Will'
shire Toms) had had his name put in the assignment
instead of his, but she could hardly believe it. He did not
reply, " I us very sorry for it ; it is too late to altar it
now, but it shall not hurt Robert.' What his sister did
say was, "I am very eorry iii have done enything wrong.
but / have given the property to Robert." Some time
before her death hit sister asked him if he would turn
IL ibert out of the house if she died, and said her illness
had been a great expense to him, and he was in debt. He
told her he should not do so whilst he was a widower.
The auignment was made for the benefit of the whole
family. His father and mother received puisb pay after
the assignment He helped to beep his father before that
awl perhaps his sister did, too. Ile never told anyone
there was to be • ahem lease to enable the old people
to get parish piv. It was not agr set between him and
his father that the property was to be divided between
John, Ann, and Henry, and that he and Henry were to
b., paid £lO each hy the other three. Thonms Toms was
in the tenement formerly occupied by John Toms, and had
paid him rent for • terelvemoutb. Ilia mother was there
her ire him and did not pay rent. Robert lived in another
house when lie was married to his sister, and he let them
have the tenement because they could not pay the rent,
Robert having bad • family by a previotia wife. —Re-
• ',emitted by Mr. Howard: On the death of his father his
mother came to live with hint and he t•orift the rentals of
the cottage,. He should have let Robert continue in
p eusaion if he had not setups el ii,, to the Pentoerty.—
I William Aneford proved (het In IiMS he live ii, the boom
now oectiPied by It iltert Tome, awl paid Joseph Wiltshire
Tome the rent. —Thomas Tome, eon of John Tome said
his uncle (the defendant) allowed his father and mother
to life in the second hare rent free, and was always a
friend to them. Ile now occupied the home, and paid his
uncle the rent.—Robert Tone, brother of the last witness,
corroborated—Mr. J. J. Bates, lend steward of the Weld
utate, said Joseph Willehtre Tome bad paid the lord's
rent of the Peortertr since Robert Tonto 71airoed it at the
Court of Survey. Jewish was well-to-do, and had rented
a farm at CO a year Rinse Michaelmas. He had beard
Robert refuge to act on the Jury of the manor and
repudiate being a tenant of the manor —C.o.-examined
by Mr. Weems : The name of John Toms appeared
throughout the lord's rent bloke. Robert had paid
the lord's rent till within the last few yearn—Rua.
examined by Mr Howerd: In mine cues the lord', rent
was paid by the occopier for the luau. tic had treats,'
Joseph as the tenant —Mc. Weston hitting eldeesel his
If msour celled Robert Time, the plaintiff, who said be
had lived in the howe for 31 yearn. end be tsolt the WO-
party in the right of his wife. He went to live in the
house shout six months after be wee inscoled to Ann
Toms, which we. on the Zits of March. 1817. Joseph
pointed out the house and portion of land fof his wife on
the 4th of April, 1817. and be hod lived there ever +ince.
Henry Toms, his wife's brother, was posseued of one-
third id the pronerty. awl he bought his interest in it a
week after he went there to live, and had occupied both
shares ever since. There never was an arrangement that
be was to pay the lord's rent as an acknowledgment for
the rent. He bad fruitier, that the property
belonged to Joseph, and he p rid the lord's rent for him.
self. He claimed to bold the property on Joseph's life,
and at hie death it would fall to Mr. Weld. He was
Present when his wife died, and in coneeouence of what
Henry had told her he meet for Joseph. His wife told him
the property was to have been ber's for the money mbe let
her fattier have during his illness, and accused him of
substituting his name for been in the assignment. Joseph
acknowledred he did it and said he was urry it could not
be altered, but it should not hurt Robert Joseph
Mortimer and himself witnessed the will of John
Toms ea well al the seelimment Susan, Ann. and
Henry put a sovereign each towards paying for
for the assignment. It was utterly untrue that he entered
into an arrangement with Joseph to keep the house in
repair and pay the lord's, rent in lieu of rent —Crew.
examined by Mr. Howard: His wife Ann died in 1807,
and be had one wife before her anti two shim He was
called "Counsellor" TOII2II at Winfrith.—Mary Jane
Sionock Langridge daughter of Robert Toms, said she
was present at the death of her stepmother. She heard
her tell Joseph Toms that Henry had told her that he had
done something wrong in the will or the deed, she
believed she said the will. Joseph replied that he was
very sorry for what he had done, but he could not alter it
then, and it should not make any difference to Robert—
George TM., hothead of SusanToon, said he had a con-
versation with hie fatharindeer as to how he was gotug
to leave the property ant be said he valued five place in
£5O. and he should leave John the north end, Ann the
middle, and Henry the south end, and Joseph and Susan
were to have £lO from the others. Joseph told him his
father was going to sell him the place for £l2 under • sham
lease to put his father and mother on the parish. He told
him the loess would cost L.S. and each child was to pay
£l. His wife ref used to pay the sovereign, as she knew
she would not get the .410 —ln answer to the Jades
defendant denied baring had his name inserted in the
lease indeed of big sister Ann's. The sum of as was
mentioned in the assignment. He did not pay this, but
helped to keep his father both before and after the
assignment. —His Honour said he was rif opinion that the
validity of the amignment had not been Maw:ruched, and
that there was only • Permissive occupation by the
plaintiff. He therefore gave • verdict for defendant with ,
costs.