Parks v. Welch

Bond, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellants, vendors of a farm in Kent County to the appellee, Welch, under a written contract of sale, sued to compel the purchaser to perform the contract on his part. The vendors had agreed to convey a title in fee simple, free of all incumbrances, but it was found that the grandfather of the vendors, Rufus F. Parks, from whom they derived title as his devisees, had never received a deed for the property, and in the face of that condition the vendee declined to comply. In addition to the vendee, all the heirs of the last owner of record, a James W. Ivens, now dead, were duly made parties defendant, and testimony produced showed without contradiction that Rufus F. Parks had taken possession of the farm as a purchaser in the year 1902, that he bad beld it openly and notoriously as owner ever since, until his death in 1924, and that the rights of ownership have since been continued by the devisees under his will, the appellants and their grandmother, now dead, that during the period since 1902 all taxes and other expenses of the farm have been paid by Rufus F. Parks and his devisees, the taxes having been assessed since 1905 in the name of Rufus F. Parks, that he had rented the farm to a series of tenants throughout the whole period mentioned, had enjoyed all the profits of the farming over and above the tenants’ shares, and had built a house and a stable on the place; and no, claim of right has been made on behalf of the record owner or anyone claiming under him.

There is no present claim made against ownership by the appellants. This court then finds that adverse possession sufficient to support a title in the appellants exists, and that they would be entitled to a decree of specific performance, unless some other consideration should prevent. Singer v. Wyman Memorial Assn., 138 Md. 398 , 114 A. 50 ; Novak Realty ⁵⁵⁰ Co. v. Orphans’ Home, 153 Md. 390 , 138 A. 250 ; Herbold v. Montebello Assn., 113 Md. 156 , 77 A. 122 . The chancellor considered that a mortgage on the property held by this same Rufus F. Parks in 1897, as assignee, not released of record, and of which the chancellor had become aware in another proceeding, gave rise to a doubt of the existence of the unincumbered title in the appellants which they were undertaking to convey.

And for that reason the decree of specific performance was