Case Name: Town of North Hempstead, Respondent, v. Benjamin Stern, Appellant
Court: New York Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1917-02-27
Citations: 220 N.Y. 629
Docket Number: 
Parties: Town of North Hempstead, Respondent, v. Benjamin Stern, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York Reports
Volume: 220
Pages: 629–630

Head Matter:
Town of North Hempstead, Respondent, v. Benjamin Stern, Appellant.
Town of North Hempstead v. Stern, 170 App. Div. 920, affirmed.
(Argued January 30, 1917;
decided February 27, 1917.)
Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered August 14, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict directed by the court. This action was brought to recover possession of two small parcels of land lying at the easterly end of Mott’s Cove (formerly called Duck Cove); and for damages for an alleged trespass by the defendant in removing certain oyster ponds erected below high-water mark at the southeasterly corner of Mott’s Cove immediately in front of defendant’s uplands. The precise question involved is whether the town of North Hempstead is the owner of Mott’s (Duck) Cove. The town claims title thereto under its colonial patents, the first from the Dutch governor, William Kieft, in 1-644, as confirmed by the English patent from Governor Dongan in 1685. No question is raised on this appeal as to the town having acquired title to Mott’s (Duck) Cove by these patents, nor that the two parcels described in the complaint are below mean high-water mark in Mott’s (Duck) Cove. The defendant claims, however, that by subsequent town allotments of the lands acquired by these colonial charters the town parted with its title to Duck Cove, and the defendant is the successor in interest of the allottees of the lands in question.
Henry A. Uterhart, John J. Graham, Charles I. Wood and Edgar H. Rosenstock for appellant.
M. Linn Bruce and George B. Stoddard for respondent.

Opinion:
Judgment affirmed, with costs; no opinion.
Concur: Chase, Collin, Cuddebacii, Hogan, Cardozo, Pound and Crane, JJ.