Case Name: STARKWEATHER v. CHATFIELD
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1907-09-20
Citations: 149 Mich. 443
Docket Number: Docket No. 52
Parties: STARKWEATHER v. CHATFIELD.
Judges: Carpenter, Grant, Blair, and Montgomery, JJ., concurred.
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 149
Pages: 443–444

Head Matter:
STARKWEATHER v. CHATFIELD.
Drains — Establishment—Petition -y Signers — Freeholders — Purchasers on Contract.
Since by the common law and by the statute (section 8787, 3 Comp. Laws) estates of inheritance are freehold estates, and the estate of the vendee in a land contract in possession is an estate of inheritance, such a vendee is a freeholder, and as such entitled to sign an application for a drain under section 4319, 2 Comp. Laws.
Appeal from Lenawee; Chester, J.
Submitted June 7, 1907.
(Docket No. 52.)
Decided September 20, 1907.
Bill by Ira Starkweather and others against Willis Chatfield, drain commissioner of Lenawee county, to restrain the construction of a drain. From a decree dismissing the bill, complainants appeal.
Affirmed.
B. L. Hart and Bird & Sampson, for complainants.
Theodore M. Joslin, for defendant.

Opinion:
Ostrander, J.
Eleven persons signed the application for the drain (2 Comp. Laws, § 4319), ten of them being freeholders if the vendee in a land contract, in possession, is a freeholder. At the common law (1 Bouvier's Dictionary, p. 693, tit., Estate of Freehold) and by statute (3 Comp. Laws, § 8787) estates of inheritance are freehold estates. The estate of the vendee in a land contract, in possession, is an estate of inheritance. Wing v. McDowell, Walk. Ch. (Mich.) 175; House v. Dexter, 9 Mich. 246; Fitzhugh v. Maxwell, 34 Mich. 138; Bowen v. Lansing, 129 Mich. 117 (57 L. R. A. 643). See, also, City of Marquette v. Land Co., 132 Mich. 130.
The decree is affirmed, with costs to defendant.
Carpenter, Grant, Blair, and Montgomery, JJ., concurred.