Jack Cline Et Al. v. Franklin Pork

If there are restrictions against commercial use in force against the lot which the plaintiff has undertaken to sell to the defendants, they constitute an encumbrance upon the title so that the plaintiff could not convey free from all encumbrances as it has agreed to do. Nashua Hospital v. Gage, 85 N.H. 335, 336. It was settled by the Gage case that: "Whenever it appears that the original owner has adopted a general scheme of development, and has inserted in his deeds of lots restrictions intended by him and agreed by the purchasers to be for their reciprocal benefit, an equitable right is shown." Id., 339. The vital question in this case is whether the plaintiff or its predecessors, as successors to the original owner, and the purchasers from them of the various lots subject to restriction did in fact intend and agree that the restrictions should be for their reciprocal benefit.