Birchfield v. Bonham

Citations

• 29 S.C.L. 62

Syllabus

<p>1. The description of a tract of land in a deed under which defendant claimed was, “a tract or parcel of land where he (Wm. Bullein) now lives, containing fifty acres, bounded by lands belonging to Wm. Bonham on one side, and Fall Branch on the other.” The tract on which B lived was known as the Clayton grant, and supposed to contain the number of acres mentioned in the deed, but all the land which the grantor owned lying on Fall Branch had been conveyed before the execution of the deed to B, leaving Bonham’s land as the only boundary for the latter deed.</p> <p>2. Held that the limits of the tract on which B lived might be ascertained by parol evidence, and that if the jury were satisfied that the land referred to in the deed was the Clayton grant, the verdict was conclusive.</p> <p>3. Where a deed was searched for in the clerk’s office and not found, which defendant proposed to offer in evidence, and one of the plaintiffs, not entitled to the possession o f it, said that he had taken it out of the clerk’s office, an office copy was properly admitted.</p>