Clayton v. Shoemaker

Yellott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellees are administrators c. t. a., of the estate ■of Samuel M. Shoemaker, and, in their representative capacity, have possession of the property known as Guy’s Hotel, in the City of Baltimore. The testator held this property under a lease for ninety-nine years renewable forever. It appears that when the hotel was erected, a space of 2 feet and 9f- inches in breadth, located on the western extremity of the lot, was not included within the ²¹⁸ building ; it forming part of an alley, about six feet wide, extending from Court House Lane to the back yard of a restaurant on Fayette street.

This alley had been used for many years by the appellant and those under whom' he claims, and by persons who wished to obtain access to-the restaurant. There was a gate at the northern end connecting with Court House Lane, which was open during the day and closed at night by the keeper of the restaurant, who was a tenant of the appellant. The alley has not been used as an out-let from the hotel, but the open space which it forms is supposed to be of value for the purposes of light and ventilation. ' The owners of the hotel never interfered with the use of the alley, until very recently, when the appellant proceeded to close it up by building thereon, and has inserted the ends of his joists in the western wall of the hotel, in order to make it a party wall for the structure which he has begun to-erect. The intervention of a Court of equity was then invoked by the appellees.

An injunction was granted, and has been made perpetual. By the terms of this injunction, the appellant is prohibited from erecting his building, and is required to remove the building materials from the ground in dispute, and the joists, beams and rafters-inserted in the western wall of the hotel. The decree thus finally determines the title to the lot of ground in-dispute, and from this decree an appeal has been taken. The appellees contend that their paper title covers the land in dispute.

They concede that the appellant has acquired, by long and uninterrupted use, an easement, but nothing more. On the other hand, the appellant claims-a fee simple title to the soil. He asserts that even if the lot in dispute is not included within the metes and bounds in his deed, he has acquired a good title by adverse possession; that the erection of a gate at the entrance of the alley, and the opening and closing of said gate at the option of the appellant, and of ²¹⁹ those under whom he claims, were acts sufficient to give notice to the opposite party that his title was imperiled hy an adverse and exclusive claim and occupation ; and that such exclusive claim and occupation having been continuous and uninterrupted for a^ period of more than twenty years, the claimant and occupant has thus acquired a title to the land in controversy. Here then we are confronted with questions directly relating to the title to land, and although in some cases, where irreparable injury might result from delay, a temporary injunction ought to be granted until the legal title can he= determined in the proper forum, a Court of equity will not pass a decree operating as a final decision of the rights of parties.

To do so would be tantamount to a substitution of Chancery jui'isdiction for that of Courts of law in deciding questions directly relating to the title to real estate ; and it is apparent that such an assumption of jurisdiction would have a strong tendency to subvert an important part of the established jurisprudence of this State. In all cases, where the line of demarcation, interposed between the jurisdiction of Cou'rts of law and of equity, has not been obliterated, it seems to have been held that, when there is an application for an injunction to prevent waste or trespass, it is incumbent on the plaintiff to make out a prima facie title to the property ; “but if his title, to the extent to which it is set up by him, is denied and contested hy the respondent, and evidence enough is offered to show some ground for the