Fairbrother v. Adams
Supreme Court of Vermont
378 A.2d 102 (Vt. 1977)
In 1959, Henry and Hazel Fairbrother (plaintiffs) conveyed about three acres of their farm to W.B. and Allen Adams (defendants). The deed also conveyed "the hunting and fishing rights" on the rest of the Fairbrother farm, and included a habendum clause granting those rights to the Adamses and "their heirs and assigns forever." The parties later disagreed about whether the rights were exclusive to the Adamses and whether the Adamses could pass those rights on to other people. They sought a declaratory judgment, and the trial court ruled the Adamses could not convey the rights to others; the case was appealed.
Whether hunting and fishing rights conveyed by a deed using the phrase "the hunting and fishing rights," together with a habendum clause naming the grantees' heirs and assigns, are exclusive, alienable, and assignable.