erect a building on his premises may procure an easement in the side wall of an adjacent building by grant, but the usual form of party wall is that in which each owner has an absolute title to that portion of it which stands upon his own land and has the right of support in the entire wall. Party walls are sometimes provided for by statutes, or they may be erected as a result of an express agreement, or certain walls between buildings may become party walls by prescription. The co-owners of party walls must contribute ratably towards their repair. If a party wall is destroyed by an inevitable accident, neither owner can compel the other to help restore it, and neither can replace it without the consent of the other. 485. Support of land.-Every owner has the right to the lateral support of the adjacent land and one owner cannot dig so close to his neighbor's property as to cause the neighbor's land to cave in. This rule applies only to land in its natural condition. Where one owner has erected a building on his property, the owner of adjacent land who intends to excavate must, ordinarily, notify the owner of the building. 486. Easements.—An easement has been defined as a privilege not amounting to the right to take anything from land acquired by grant or prescription; a privilege the owner of one piece of land, called a dominant tenement, has over another piece of land, called a servient tenement. Easements may be acquired by grant, express or implied, by necessity, by prescription or by dedi cation. EXAMPLES 399. A owns two adjacent parcels of land, upon one of which is a spring. He connects the other parcel with the spring by means of a pipe, and continuously, openly and notoriously uses the pipe as a means of conveying water to the other piece of property, which he later sells to B. If nothing is said in the deed of conveyance B will obtain an easement in the land of A which will give him a right to maintain the pipe. 400. Where there is no way of egress or ingress to property sold by A to B except over A's land, B will have a right of way. A may lay out the right of way if it is reasonable, but the duty to keep it in repair will fall on B. If A refuses to lay out the road B may do it in a reasonable manner. This easement by necessity continues only so long as the necessity continues. If B buys other property which enables him to get to the highway, the easement will cease. The courts have held that a purchaser may not be compelled to seek ingress and egress by means of a boat. An easement of light and air cannot be acquired except by express grant. Thus, one who erects a building up to the border line of his property and places windows in the side wall cannot prevent his neighbor from building, though the older structure has been in place over twenty years. CHAPTER XXIX TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OR POSSESSION OF 487. Contract of sale.-One of the most important instruments relating to real property is the written contract of sale required by the statute of frauds. If a mistake is made in a deed conveying property, it can be corrected by a judicial proceeding to make it conform with the contract, but a contract can be changed or rescinded only for mutual mistake, fraud, or duress, facts which are always difficult to prove. A contract for the sale of real property is usually a formal instrument, setting forth a description of the property to be sold, the consideration, the terms and conditions of the sale and the time at which title is to pass. The vendee usually gives the contract to a real estate lawyer or to a title insurance company for a search of the records, to ascertain whether the vendor has a title as good as he represents it to be in the contract. A contract for the sale and purchase of real property may be enforced by specific performance, that is, the vendor may be compelled by decree of an equitable court to execute a proper deed and the vendee to accept the same and pay the purchase price. If the vendee dies during the period between the making of the contract and the closing of the title, the executor is bound to pay the purchase price out of the personalty of the decedent and the deed from the vendor will run to the heir. If the vendor dies the purchase price will be paid to his executor and not to his heirs. FORM OF AGREEMENT TO CONVEY PREMISES THIS AGREEMENT, Made and entered into the twentieth day of January, in the year one thousand nine hundred and eight, BETWEEN EDWARD H. LITCHFIELD, of the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, party of the first part, and Katherine Hoyt, party of the second part: WITNESSETH, That the said party of the first part, in consideration of the sum of one thousand ($1,000) dollars, to be duly paid as hereinafter specified, hereby agrees to sell and convey unto the said party of the second part, by giving a quitclaim deed, ALL that certain piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being in the Twenty-second Ward of the Borough of Brooklyn, City and State of New York, and bounded and described as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point one hundred and sixty-eight (168) feet three (3) inches easterly from the southeasterly corner of Fifth Avenue and Second Street; running thence southerly and parallel with, or nearly parallel, with Fifth Avenue one hundred (100) feet; running thence easterly and parallel with Second Street sixty-nine (69) feet eight (8) inches; running thence northerly and parallel, or nearly parallel, with Fifth Avenue one hundred (100) feet; thence westerly and along Second Street sixtynine (69) feet eight (8) inches to the point or place of beginning, all said dimensions being more or less. Said premises containing within its limits an ancient graveyard. AND the said party of the second part hereby agrees to purchase of the said party of the first part, the premises herein described, at the price before mentioned, and pay to the party of the first part the said consideration therefor, in the manner and at the times following, to wit: One hundred (100) dollars, on the delivery of this Contract (the payment and receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged); nine hundred (900) dollars, on the delivery of the Quitclaim Deed. Said Quitclaim Deed shall be dated 1908, and be ready for delivery at the office of Edward H. Litchfield, Esq., 45 Wall Street, N. Y. City, on or before the 19th day of February, 1908, at 12 o'clock noon, and no further tender of the deed shall be required than that the same be ready for delivery at the said time and place. AND the party of the first part, on receiving such payment at the time and place herein provided, shall, at his own expense, have properly prepared, executed and acknowledged, and deliver to the party of the second part, a good and sufficient Quitclaim Deed for the conveying to her said premises. AND if the party of the second part fails to complete the purchase as herein provided, and on the day above fixed, this contract may, at the option of the party of the first part, become void, and all consideration paid on account thereof be forfeited. AND it is also agreed that in order to prevent any complication of the title, this contract shall not be recorded, and if it should be recorded notwithstanding this prohibition, it may at the option of the party of the first part become void, and the consideration paid on account thereof forfeited. AND if this contract shall be assigned by said party of the second part, the deed shall be made to the assignee; but notice of at least ten days preceding the date of closing shall be given to the party of the first part, which notice shall specify the name and address of the person to whom this contract is assigned. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the said names to this, together with one other day and year first above written. In the presence of L. S. RHOADS. parties hereto have affixed their agreement of like tenor, on the EDWARD H. LITCHFIELD. 488. Conveyances.-Property usually is transferred by deed or by will, the transfer in the one case being called a conveyance and in the other a devise. The various forms of deeds have already been mentioned and briefly described. A deed should be recorded in the proper county office, to prevent a subsequent purchaser who may have no notice thereof, from obtaining title. The recording of a deed or other instrument affecting the title to land carries with it constructive notice of its existence to all persons who may subsequently become interested in the title. In most states a deed must be signed by the grantor or by a person with proper authority from the grantor and must be sealed. In some states a deed must also be witnessed. The recording acts of most states provide that before being accepted by the official for recording, a deed shall be acknowledged before a notary or other authorized official. By a recent enactment in the state of New York, a deed in that state must set forth the addresses of the purchasers. A deed is not valid until it is delivered to the grantee. A delivery in escrow is a delivery to a third person to take effect as a conveyance to the grantee upon the fulfillment of some condition. A deed must be executed and delivered by the grantor or by an agent duly authorized by a properly executed formal power of attorney. A grantee should insist that a husband join in the deed of his wife in order to cut off his right of curtesy, and that a wife should join in the execution of a deed by her husband to cut off her right to dower. 489. Mortgages of real property.—A mortgage is a conveyance of the title to lands for the purpose of securing a debt on the condition that the title of the grantee |