TITLE III. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF OWNERS. CHAPTER I. Rights of owners. II. Obligations of owners. CHAPTER I. RIGHTS OF OWNERS. ARTICLE I. Incidents of ownership. ARTICLE I. INCIDENTS OF OWNERSHIP. SECTION 256. Water. 257. Rights of tenant for life. 258, 259. Rights of tenant for years, &c. 260. Rights of grantees of rents and reversion. 261. Rights of lessees and their assignees, &c. 263. Remedy on leases for life. 264. Rent dependent on life. 265. Remedy of reversioners, &c. S 256. The owner of land owns water standing Water. thereon, or flowing over or under its surface, but not forming a definite stream.3 Water running in a definite stream, formed by nature' over" or under the surface, may be used' by him as long as it remains there; but he may not prevent the natural flow of the stream, or of the natural spring from which it commences its definite course, nor pursue, nor pollute the same. 'Broadbent v. Ramsbotham, 11 Exch., 602; better re- Rights of tenant for life, Rights of tenant for years, &c. Id. Rights of grantees of rents and reversion. 3 Ellis v. Duncan, 21 Barb., 230; Acton v. Blundell, 12 Chasemore v. Richards, supra; see Dickinson v. Grand ⚫ Wood v. Waud, 3 Exch., 748; Greatrex v. Hayward, 8 id., See Chasemore v. Richards, 7 H. of L. Cas., 384; Smith v. Adams, 6 Paige, 435. Mason v. Hill, 5 B. & Ad., 1; Embrey v. Owen, 6 Exch., 353. There is no right of ownership, only a right of use (Van Hoesen v. Coventry, 10 Barb., 518; Arnold v. Foot, 12 Wend., 330). Bellinger v. N. Y. Central R. R., 23 N. Y., 42; Corning v. Troy Factory, 34 Barb., 485. Dudden v. Clutton Union, 1 Hurlst. & N., 627. 10 Honsee v. Hammond, 39 Barb., 89; Thomas v. Brackney, 17 id., 654; see Carhart v. Auburn Gaslight Co., 22 id., 297. S257. The owner of a life estate may use the land in the same manner as the owner of a fee simple, except that he must do no act to the injury of the inheritance. Jackson v. Brownson, 7 Johns., 227, 234; Bradstreet v. Pratt, 17 Wend., 44; Livingston v. Reynolds, 2 Hill, 157; 26 Wend., 115. S258. A tenant for years or at will, unless he is a wrongdoer by holding over, may occupy the buildings, take the annual products of the soil, work mines and quarries open at the commencement of his tenancy,' and cultivate and harvest the crops growing at the end of his tenancy. 'Freer v. Stotenbur, 36 Barb., 641. S259. A tenant for years or at will has no other rights to the property than such as are given to him by the agreement or instrument by which his tenancy is acquired, or by the last section. S 260. A person to whom any real property' is transferred or devised, upon which rent has been reserved, or to whom any such rent is transferred, is entitled to the same remedies for recovery of rent, for non-performance of any of the terms of the lease, or for any waste or cause of forfeiture, as his grantor or devisor might have had." 'Childs v. Clark, 3 Barb. C., 58. Van Rensselaer v. Hays, 19 N. Y., 68, 85, 86. The words "whether upon a lease in fee or otherwise," Willard v. Tillman, 2 Hill, 274; Moffat v. Smith, 4 N. Y., 126. 1 R. S., 747, § 23 $261. Whatever remedies the lessee of any real property1 may have against his immediate lessor, for the breach of any agreement in the lease, he may have against the assigns of the lessor, and the assigns of the lessee may have against the lessor and his assigns, except upon covenants against incumbrances or relating to the title or possession of the premises. 1 R. S., 747, § 24. The words "whether in fee or otherwise" omitted. 2 Day v. Swackhamer, 2 Hilton, 4. Rights of their as lessees and signees, &c. of last two $262. The provisions of the last two sections apply Application to all grants reserving rent,' except grants in fee sections. executed before the ninth day of April, 1805, or after the fourteenth day of April, 1860, the rents reserved by which have been transferred since the latter date. 1 R. S., 748, § 25; Van Rensselaer v. Hays, 19 N. Y. 68; Van Rensselaer v. Ball, id., 100. The exception is intended to enact the amendment to on leases for for life. $263. Rent due upon a lease for life may be Remedy recovered in the same manner as upon a lease years. 1 R. S., 747, § 19. $264. Rent dependent on the life of a person may Rent debe recovered after, as well as before, his death. 1 R. S., 747, § 20. pendent on life. Remedies of rever $265. A person having an estate in fee,' in resioners, &c. mainder or reversion, may maintain an action for any injury done to the inheritance, notwithstanding an intervening estate for life or years, and although, after its commission, his estate is transferred, and he has no interest in the property at the commencement of the action.3 The words "in fee" are new. No one but the owner in fee could have a right to maintain the action. 1 R. S., 750, § 8; see Van Deusen v. Young, 29 Barb., 9, 15. The rest of the section is new, though in accordance with existing law. Robinson v. Wheeler, 25 N. Y., 252. ARTICLE II. Rights of owner. Boundaries by water. BOUNDARIES. SECTION 266. Rights of owner. 267. Boundaries by water. 268. Boundaries by ways. 269. Lateral and subjacent support. 270. Trees whose trunks are wholly on land of one. 271. Line trees. $266. The owner of land in fee has the right to the surface, and to everything permanently situated beneath or above it. $267. When land borders upon tide-water,' or upon water which constitutes an exterior boundary of the state, the owner of the upland takes to high-water mark; when it borders upon a navigable lake where there is no tide, the owner takes to the edge of the lake at low-water mark; when it borders upon any other water, the owner takes to the middle of the lake or stream. 2 Could v. Hudson River R. R., 6 N. Y., 522. Se Kingman v. Sparrow, 12 Barb, 206; Canal Ap praisers v. People, 17 Wend., 570. 'Champlain R. R. v. Valentine, 19 Barb., 484, 492. Ledyard v. Ten Eyck, 36. Barb., 102: Hooker v. Cummings, 20 Johns., 90, 99, 101; Canal Commissioners v. Kempshall, 26 Wend., 404. by ways. $268. An owner of land, bounded by a road or Boundaries street, is presumed to own to the centre of the way, but the contrary may be shown. Mott v. Mayor of N. Y., 2 Hilton, 358, 363; Bissell v. 2 $269. Each coterminous owner is entitled to the lateral' and subjacent support which his land by nature receives from the land of the other. 'Farrand v. Marshall, 21 Barb., 409, 421; but see Rad cliff v. Brooklyn, 4 N. Y., 195; Panton v. Holland, 'Rowbotham v. Wilson, 8 E. & Bl., 123; 8 House of 503. $270. Trees whose trunks stand wholly upon the land of one owner, belong exclusively to him, although their roots grow into the land of another. See Dubois v. Beaver, 25 N. Y., 123, 126. Lateral cent sup and subja. port. Trees trunks are whose wholly on land of one. $271. Trees whose trunks stand partly on the Line trees. land of two or more coterminous owners, belong to them in common. See Dubois v. Beaver, 25 N. Y., 126, 127. CHAPTER II. OBLIGATIONS OF OWNERS. SECTION 272. Duties of tenant for life. 273. Monuments and fences. 1 tenant for $272. The owner of a life estate must keep the Duties of buildings and fences in repair from ordinary waste, and must pay the taxes and other annual charges,3 life. |