Svenson v. Hanson (289 Ill. 242, 1919)

Mr. Justice Thompson

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decree of the superior court dismissing for want of equity the appellant’s bill praying partition of the following vacant and unimproved lands: Lot 59 and the south half of lot 6o, in block 21, in Ravens-wood Gardens, a subdivision of that part of the west half of the northeast quarter and the- east half of the northwest quarter (except the right of.way of the Northwestern Elevated railroad) of section 13, township 40, north, range 13, east of the third principal meridian, lying northeast of the right of way of the Sanitary District of Chicago, in Cook county, Illinois. The bill alleges that appellant is the owner of an undivided one-half interest in said lands and that appellees are the owners of the other one-half interest therein.

Appellant bases his claim on the provisions of section 1 of the Joint Rights and Obligations act, (Laws of 1917, p. 557,) alleging that estates in joint tenancy are thereby abolished. The sole question presented is one of statutory construction.

It appears from the bill that Gustaf E. and Ingeborg Svenson, parents of the appellant, were seized as joint tenants "of the premises in controversy, deriving their title b}r warranty deed from Charles E. Powers and wife, dated July 1, 1918, in which the land was conveyed to them “not in tenancy in common but in joint ténancythat Gustaf E. Svenson departed this life intestate October 13, 1918, leaving him surviving Ingeborg Svenson, his widow, and appellant, his son and only heir-at-law; that October 14, 1918, Ingeborg Svenson, for a valuable consideration, conveyed the real estate in question to appellees, not in tenancy in common but in joint tenancy, an