Natural boundaries ought to be regarded in preference to artificial ones.
EJECTMENT. The plaintiff’s grant which was issued by the state in 1787, decribed a tract bounded by the river on one side, and thence from the river, so as to include a tract, supposed to have been left out of the patent, hereafter mentioned.
The defendant claimed under a patent issued fifty years ago, beginning at a hickory, standing not far from the river, thence down the river a certain course and distance. The course ran obliquely from the river, leaving between it and the river the triangular piece of land now sued for.
By
The Court.
When a deed, patent or grant, describes a boundary from a certain point down a river, creek, or the like, mentioning also course and distance; should the latter be found not to agree with the course of the river, creek, &c. it ought to be disregarded, and the river considered the true boundary.
Verdict for the Defendant.