Court Opinion

ID: 9602816
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:00:26.608799+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:44:55.661593
License: Public Domain

Spratley, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
This proceeding, involving the ownership of a small parcel of land in the town of Colonial Beach, was originally instituted in chancery by the plaintiffs in error, Delbert W. Conner and Em-magine Conner, against Walter Hendrix and others, the parties in possession of the land. It was subsequently transferred to. the law side of the court, and thereupon plaintiffs in error, by leave of court, filed a declaration in ejectment, to which defendants pleaded the general issue. The case came on to be heard, and the court deeming the evidence of plaintiffs in error insufficient to show that they had title to the land, struck the
*20evidence. The jury then returned a verdict for defendants, and judgment was entered accordingly.
The sole question for our decision is whether the trial court erred in striking the evidence.
For the purpose of clarity a diagram of the land involved and its surrounding area is set out below, the diagram being'a reproduction of a material part of a plat made by Hunter and Brewer,, dated April 30, 1884, and hereinafter referred to as the map of 1884. We have added the words “Hotel Reservation” to the original plat. They indicate the unplatted area often referred to as the “Hotel Reservation” in the deeds filed in evidence. The symbol showing the points of the compass has also been added.
On the diagram the parcel of land in controversy does not appear as a separate lot. It lies directly east of lot 11,. block 87, and between the northern and southern lines thereof extended eastwardly. to low water mark on the Potomac river. The l.ot is 56 feet wide (by re'cent survey 56.84' wide), and is bounded on the west by lot 11, block 87, on the north and south by extension of the side lines of lot 11 eastwardly 95 feet to low water mark on the Potomac river and on the east by the low water line of the said river. It consists of that part of the shore and beach of the Potomac which lies immediately east of lot 11, block 87, apd within the prolongation of its northern and southern lines to low water mark.
The common source of title begins with a deed from Jesse Heacock and wife, dated February 12, 1878, conveying to Henry J. Kintz, trustee, a tract of land containing several hundred acres bordering the Potomac river and known as “White Point Farm.” The tract conveyed included this parcel of land and the surrounding area. In 1882, Kintz, trustee, caused a considerable portion of this tract to be subdivided into building lots, and laid out streets and parks therein. The subdivision thus first formed appears on a map made in 1882 by B. Hyde Benton, and called the map of 1882. As platted and laid off on this map, none of the lots either north or south of the “Hotel Reservation” extended to the river as do the lots in blocks 93, 97 and 101 on the accompanying diagram, a reproduction of the material part of the later map of 1884.
Lots in the subdivision were sold and conveyed by Kintz, *21trastee, to sundry grantees by reference to and as appearing on the map of 1882; bnt the strip of land whieh extended north-wardly and southwardly from the “Hotel Reservation” along the shore of the Potomac river was retained by Mm. He also retained the acreage known as the “Hotel Reservation,” which appears in the center of the diagram and is not divided into lots.
The strip of land which he retained along the shore between the eastern line of the building lots and the western edge of the river extended to mean low water mark. It not only included the area between low and high water marks, but also some of the shore or beach above high water mark along and just east of the eastern line of the lots. This higher land was available as a passageway to and from the acreage known as the “Hotel Reservation. ’ ’
In the brief of the defendants we are told, without contradiction, that a “street right ,of way crosses the land between the east line of lot 11 and the river.” This is supported by the provision in the deed of Henry J. Kintz, trustee, to John T. Given and others, trustees, granting certain rights to lot owners in the subdivision, and in the reservation in the deed of the Receivers of Colonial Beach Company to Prank D. Blackistone, hereinafter referred to.
The area included in lots 11 and 12 of block 87 was, by the map of 1882, a part of the acreage which comprised the “Hotel Reservation,” and, consequently, did not appear as lots on that map. No block number was designated oh that map. The other lots which appear on the diagram lying south of the “Hotel Reservation” did appear on the map of 1882, though lots 9 and 10 of block 87 on the map of 1884 appeared on the 1882 map as lots 19 and 20. Other lots on the map of 1882 also bore different numbers from those assigned to them on the map of 1884. This accounts for the double numbering of certain lots on the above diagram.
After the map of 1882 was made, Kintz, trustee, by deed of October 31,1882, conveyed to John T. Given and others, trustees, and their successors “for the joint benefit of the lot owners in the subdivision, forever” all the interest he had in the streets, avenues and parks shown on the said map and “all and any portion of the entire shore of the river between the building line and the river and all riparian rights of fishery or other rights *22whatsoever as may be incident to the ownership of the shore, ’ ’ expressly reserving from the operation of the deed “that portion of the river front not laid off in lots, shown on said map in front of his dwelling house allowing, however, a free right of crossing said present reservation at the river shore to the owners of lots in said subdivision, * * *.” The “Hotel Reservation,” as we have seen, was not “laid off in lots.”
As lots 11 and 12 of block 87 on the map of 1884 had not been then formed or cut from the “Hotel Reservation,” this deed did not convey the land immediately in front of lot 11, block 87, that is, the parcel now in controversy. It did, however, convey, for the purposes specified, all of the strip of shore and beach lying south of the north line of lot 20 on the map of 1882 (lot 10 on map of 1884) extended to low water, that is, it granted the strip of land along the shore which lies south of the lot now in controversy.
It thus clearly appears that the fifty-six by ninety-five foot lot in controversy did not pass from Kintz, trustee, to Given and others, trustees; but continued to be owned by Kintz, trustee, ás a part of the area known as the ‘ ‘ Hotel Reservation, ’ ’ of which tract it constituted the most southeasterly part.
In 1883 Kintz, trustee, conveyed a lot of land that now comprises lot 11, block 87, to Florence H. Sawyer, who was the predecessor in title of Walter Hendrix and others, defendants in error. It is conceded that Kintz, trustee, was at that time the owner of the parcel of land now in controversy. Thereafter, all of the property of Kintz, trustee, shown on the map of 1884, except lots 11 and 12, block 87, (and other lots not pertinent to this case) was, after successive conveyances, vested in W. B. Em-mert, trustee, by a deed from A. T. Holtzman and others, trustees, dated December 31, 1908. Emmert, trustee, thus acquired the “Hotel Reservation” which extended to low water line of the Potomac river, and also the parcel in controversy lying just east of lot 11, block 87, extending to the river.
On January 9, 1909, W. B. Emmert, trustee, executed a deed to Colonial Beach Company, a corporation, conveying certain lands, personal property, and rights under the following description:
“All of the following described property, lying and being in the Town of Colonial Beach, in the County of Westmore-*23land, in the State of Virginia, on the waters of the Potomac River, and being more particularly described as follows, to-wit: A certain piece or parcel of land bounded on the south by block No. 87 and on the north by block No. 93, as shown on the plan of Colonial Beach, bearing the signatures of T. Hunter, Jr., and H. W. Brewer, and bearing date on April 30th, 1884; bounded on the west by the east line of Taggert Street extended and bounded on the east by the Potomac River, and being a part of what is known as the ‘Hotel Reservation’, and including the hotel and all of its furnishings and equipment and all buildings, machinery, apparatus, and all other property of whatsoever kind situated on said land and in the waters adjoining said land, including the wharf and all other properties, franchises and easements and rights now owned or which may hereafter be acquired by the parties of the first part in and to the waters-and shore of the Potomac River in front-of and adjoining the above described parcel of land, the said property hereby conveyed being a portion of that which was conveyed to the said W. B. Emmert, Trustee, by A. T. Holtzman, W. E. Chesley and John A..Nicol, Trustees by deed bearing date on the . . . . day of December, A. D. 1908, and of record in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Westmoreland County, Virginia, to which deed particular reference is hereby made.”
The Receivers of the. Colonial Beach Company, on December 23, 1920, conveyed the same property to Frank D. Blackistone, employing in the deed the identical words of description used in the 1909 deed from Emmert, trustee, to the Colonial Beach Company. The property was, however, conveyed “subject to any lawfully established rights of way on and over the same. ’ ’
The issue before us turns on .the question whether the land in controversy j.s included in the description of the property conveyed in the deed from Emmert, trustee, to Colonial Beach Company. The trial court was of the opinion that it was not, and held that since Colonial Beach Company, predecessor in title to the plaintiffs in error, did not obtain title to the land, the plaintiffs in error did not acquire it.
Analyzing the deed in question we find that it conveyed several classes of property. First named is real property, which *24is particularly described by specific boundaries as shown on a recorded map and, generally, as being a part of what is known as the “Hotel Reservation,” including the hotel building. Next comes all the furnishings and equipment of the hotel and all buildings, machinery, apparatus, and all other property of whatsoever kind “situated on said land and in the waters adjoining land,” that is all property situated on the described land and in the waters adjoining it. The remaining grant included “the wharf and all other properties, franchises and easements and rights now owned or which may hereafter be acquired by” the grantor in and to the waters and shore of the Potomac river ‘‘in front of and adjoining the above described parcel of land,” that is, in front of and adjoining the land conveyed within the described boundaries. (Italics added).
• It will be observed that the grantor in one place described the land conveyed as “being a part of what is known as the ‘Hotel Reservation,’ ” and again as “being a portion of that which was conveyed to the said W. B. Emmert, Trustee, by A. T. Holtzman,” and others. He refrained from describing it as being all of the remaining portion of the ‘ ‘ Hotel Reservation, ” or of that which was conveyed to him by Holtzman and others.
The language of the deed is simple, clear and explicit. It requires no interpretation. There is no part of the description out of harmony with, or repugnant to any other part. Giving to the words employed their general and ordinary meaning, they imply no doubt or obscurity and are capable of but one meaning.
It is clear'that the eastern front of the land conveyed lies between the southern boundary line of block 93 and the northern boundary line of block 87 extended to the waters of the Potomac river. Its southerly boundary line excluded any land south or east of block 87. Furthermore, the parcel in controversy is not bounded on the south by block 87. It is bounded on the south by the prolongation of the northerly line of a parcel of land (lot 10, block 87, map of 1884), which lies fifty-six feet from the line described as the southern boundary of the land conveyed. While it adjoins the land described in the deed, it is to the side and not to the front of it. The understanding of the words used is plainly stressed by what he said, and in the distinction he makes between the use of the word “adjoining” when he refers' to certain property, and in the words “in front of and adjoin*25ing, ’ ’ which he employs in the conjunctive in connection with the wharf and the intangible rights mentioned. The conjoined words are used in a limiting sense, and exclude any property or rights which are not immediately in front of the land conveyed.
The parcel of land involved is not “in front of” the land described in the deed. It is in front of and adjoins lot No. 11. It does not come within the designation of property situated on the land conveyed and in the waters adjoining said land, nor within the classification of “franchises and easements and rights ’ ’ in and to the waters of the Potomac river in front of and adjoining the land conveyed.
The town of Colonial Beach is a watering resort, located on the Potomac river, in Virginia, not far from the City of Washington, D. C. That the owners of the lands hereinbefore described appreciated the rights appurtenant to waterfront property is shown by the deeds in evidence.
In the construction of deeds it is to be remembered ‘ ‘ That it is the duty of the court to give the proper meaning to every word used in the instrument if possible.” Morris v. Bernard, 114 Va. 630, 77 S. E. 458; Browning v. Bluegrass Co., 153 Va. 20, 26, 149 S. E. 497.
“Effect and meaning should be given to every part of the deed, if it can be done consistently with the rules of law.” 26 C. J. S., Deeds, § 84 b, page 330. Words descriptive of the land conveyed should be given their established, definite, usual and ordinary meaning, unless a contrary intent appears. 16 Am. Jur., Deeds, § 277, page 595.
It is not permissible to interpret that which has no need of interpretation. “ ‘The province of construction lies wholly within the domain of ambiguity. ’ If it is too plain to misunderstand, there is nothing to construe.” Norfolk Motor Exch. v. Grubb, 152 Va. 471, 478, 147 S. E. 214, 63 A. L. R. 310.
In 6 Thompson on Real Property, Perm. Ed., § 3289, this is said: “To justify the suppression of a part of a description it must not only be out of harmony with other parts of the description; but it must be undeniably so in some important respect, after putting a reasonable construction upon the rest of the description.”
“It is a well-settled rule of construction that inasmuch as the parties must have intended all the provisions and terms *26of a deed to have some meaning and be given some import, from the fact that the terms and provisions were actually inserted in the deed, a deed will be so interpreted as to make it operative and effective in all its provisions, if its terms are susceptible of such interpretation. Every word, if possible, is to have effect, for, it has been said, the deed, as the witness to the contract between the parties, should speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” 16 Am. Jur., Deeds, § 171, page 534. Realty Securities, etc., Co. v. National Rubber, etc., Co., 122 W. Va. 21, 7 S. E. (2d) 49, 51.
According to all of the authorities where a general word is followed by a description of particular subjects or things, its meaning is restricted by the particular designation, and includes only things or subjects of the same kind, class, or nature as those specifically enumerated, unless there is a clear manifestation to the contrary. We find no manifestation that the deed included land south of the northern boundary line of block No. 87, any more than it included blocks 89 and 91 on the north which lie south of block No. 93 on the map of 1884.
The proper rule to be applied here is that stated by Buchanan, J., in Sav. Bank v. Stewart, 93 Va. 447, 451, 25 S. E. 543, 544:
“Where several particulars are given in the description, all of which are necessary to identify the land intended to be conveyed, nothing but what will correspond with all the particulars will pass by the deed; but where the deed contains two descriptions of the land equally explicit, but repugnant to each other, that description which the whole deed shows best expresses the intention of the parties must prevail.” Mathews v. Gillespie, 137 Va. 639, 647, 120 S. E. 324.
There is no repugnancy in the particulars of the descriptive phrase, “in front of and adjoining the above describéd parcel of land.” Only that property which corresponded with all the particulars named passed by the deed. There is a conclusive presumption that all property not embraced within the description of a deed is excluded from it. We cannot disregard either the particular description of the real property conveyed or the particulars applicable to property described as being “in front of and adjoining” the above real property.
It is clear, we think, that the land in question lies outside of *27the 'boundaries and description of the deed from Emmert, trustee, to Colonial Beach Company, predecessor in title of the plaintiff in error, and that it does not come within the classification of “other property” conveyed by the deed. For these reasons we are of opinion to affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Affirmed.