Opinion
Decided December, 1879.
The right of homestead exemption does not exist in land on which no home is established, or which is no part of a homestead and is not connected with one by beneficial use.
BILL IN EQUITY, for the assignment of a homestead (reported ante, p. 53). The plaintiff Cole, and Prescott, owned the land in common, and used it for raising hay. Neither of them lived upon the land, and there was no house upon it. The plaintiffs, Cole and his wife, were boarders about three miles away from the land. Cole had talked of buying Prescott's interest in the land, but had no fixed purpose about it. The defendants, having an execution against Cole, levied it upon his undivided part of the land, subject only to his wife's contingent right of dower.
Barnard, for the plaintiffs.
Hibbard, for the defendants.
To entitle the claimant to a homestead, there must be a home established on the land claimed, or the land must be a part of that which constitutes the homestead, or connected with it by beneficial use. The case shows no home on the land, and the land is no part of a homestead, and is not connected with one by use, nor in any way appurtenant or incident to one. Mere intention cannot make a home.
Bill dismissed.
BINGHAM, J., did not sit: the others concurred.