Town of North Hempstead v. Stern

Headnote

Town of North Hempstead v. Stern, 170 App. Div. 920 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered August 14, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor

of plaintiff entered upon a verdict directed by the court. This action was brought to recover possession of two small parcels of land lying at the easterly end of Mott’s Cove (formerly called Duck Cove); and for damages for an alleged trespass by the defendant in removing certain oyster ponds erected below high-water mark at the southeasterly corner of Mott’s Cove immediately in front of defendant’s uplands. The precise question involved is whether the town of North Hempstead is the owner of Mott’s (Duck) Cove. The town claims title thereto under its colonial patents, the first from the Dutch governor, William Kieft, in 1-644, as confirmed by the English patent from Governor Dongan in 1685. No question is raised on this appeal as to the town having acquired title to Mott’s (Duck) Cove by these patents, nor that the two parcels described in the complaint are below mean high-water mark in Mott’s (Duck) Cove. The defendant claims, however, that by subsequent town allotments of the lands acquired by these colonial charters the town parted with its title to Duck Cove, and the defendant is the successor in interest of the allottees of the lands in question.