Opinion ID: 3166759
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1924 Conveyance

Text: [¶4] The properties now owned by the Scotts and the Edwardses formerly were included in a tract of land owned by Cora E. Perry. In 1924, Perry conveyed a portion of her tract to Ensign Otis. Perry’s deed to Otis described the property 1 Although Eliot Scott’s wife, Constance Scott, was named as a defendant, there is no evidence that she has a record ownership interest in the property located at 34 Coopers Beach Road, and she does not claim any interest in either the way and cul-de-sac or the land above the high-water mark on the Edwardses’ property. Because Constance’s interests differ from the interests of the other individual defendants, references to “the Scotts” herein do not include her. 2 Titcomb is not a party to this action; its rights to use the way and cul-de-sac are not in issue here. 3 conveyed by reference to a plan of Coopers Beach “made by A.D. Blackin[]ton in 1882” (the Blackinton Plan). Otis’s deed also granted the “privileges of all streets laid out on said plan and the free use of the beach for bathing and boating purposes.” Otis’s deed did not describe the location of “the beach,” nor did the Blackinton Plan label or otherwise designate the location of a particular beach area. [¶5] The Scotts’ property at 34 Coopers Beach Road includes some of the land that Perry conveyed to Otis in 1924, and some land that was not involved in that 1924 conveyance. The Scotts’ deed to 34 Coopers Beach Road expressly conveys only a single easement providing “a right-of-way over the Coopers Beach Road” to the property; it does not mention any beach rights. [¶6] At the time of her 1924 conveyance to Otis, Perry’s holdings included the waterfront property that is now owned by the Edwardses. The Blackinton Plan depicts a waterfront lot, numbered 24, contiguous to the Edwardses’ property. These adjacent properties have differently described waterfront boundaries. The deeds in the Edwardses’ chain of title describe their property’s waterfront boundary in a manner that locates that boundary at the low-water mark. The deeds in the chain of title for the land corresponding to lot 24 describe that lot’s waterfront boundary in a manner that locates that boundary at the high-water mark. 4