adjoining

In its etymological sense, touching or contiguous. as distinguished from lying near or adjacent. Re Ward, 52 NY 395, 397. In certain contexts, close or near to. Matthews v Kimball, 70 Ark 451, 464, 69 SW 547. So, lands separated by a public way may nevertheless adjoin. 1 Am J2d Adj L § 1. In a lease of the fourth store in a row of six, containing a covenant by the lessor not to let any of the adjoining shops for the purpose of a specified trade in which the lessee intends to engage, the word "adjoining" is not confined to the shop oil either side of the one demised, but extends to any shop in the row, although, in the absence of the use of the word "any," as modifying the word "adjoining," the latter word may be interpreted to refer only to premises next door or physically "adjoining." Anno: 90 ALR 1461. As the word appears in a deed which describes the subject matter by reference to the properties adjoining it, the word "adjoining" does not necessarily import that the boundary of the land conveyed is coterminous with the boundary of the adjoining land, for all that the word implies is contiguity, and hence it is equally applicable where one boundary is shorter than the other. 23 Am J2d Deeds § 242.