Young v. Camp Manufacturing Co.

Citations

• 110 Va. 678
• 66 S.E. 843
• 1910 Va. LEXIS 111

Syllabus

<p>1. Logs- and Logging—Standing Trees—Conveyance—Time of Removal —Reasonable Time—Case in Judgment.—The owner of land conveyed to a manufacturing company all the pine timber standing upon the land that would measure twelve inches in diameter across the stump at the time of cutting, with the right, for a period of five years from the date of the deed, to cut and remove the same, and, if not cut and removed within said time, the further right to extend the time for cutting and removing for such further time as the grantee might desire, upon payment of interest at six per cent, per annum upon the price agreed to be paid for trees.</p> <p>Meld: 1. It was not the intention of the parties to give an absolute and unconditional title to the timber, but only such as was cut and removed within the time limited by the deed, and such extensions thereof as the grantee was entitled to demand upon a fair construction of the deed, or as might be agreed upon by the parties.</p> <p>2. The grantee has not a wholly indefinite period in which to cut and remove the timber which it has purchased, but must cut and remove it within a reasonable time after the expiration of the fixed period.</p> <p>3. The question of what is reasonable time is one of fact dependent on. the circumstances of each case. The rights of the grantor are not to be measured by the convenience or inconvenience, the ability or inability of the grantee, caused by and resulting from the magnitude and extent of its business, and its numerous other contracts to which the grantor is a stranger. In the ease at bar, one year from the certification of the decree of this court to the circuit court is a reasonable time.</p>