Safe Deposit & Trust Co. v. Bovaird & Seyfang Manufacturing Co.

Citations

• 229 Pa. 295
• 78 A. 268
• 1910 Pa. LEXIS 585

Syllabus

<p>Deeds — Latent ambiguity — Evidence—Parol evidence.</p> <p>1. Where a person owns several lots on a street named First avenue, and by a deed conveys one of the lots “ and also all the estate, right, title and claim of the party of the firs! part, in and to the ground formerly occupied by First avenue, now vacated,” and there is nothing in the deed to indicate conclusively that the grantor intended to convey only so much of the vacated street as abutted on the lot of ground particularly described and conveyed by the deed, it is error for the court in an action of ejectment to construe the deed as a matter of law so as to confine the grant to the portion of the street abutting on the lot conveyed. Such a deed involves a latent ambiguity to be explained by parol evidence, and to be passed upon by a jury.</p> <p>2. In such a case the acts and declarations of the parties at and before making the deed are competent evidence to explain the conditions as they existed on the ground at the time, and to aid the jury in determining the extent or limitations of the grant; and evidence is admissible to show an intent to convey the whole street although the grantor in a later deed conveying a lot abutting on the same street included in the conveyance the portion of the vacated street abutting on such lot.</p>