Chandler v. Hopson
Chandler v. Hopson
Opinion of the Court
1. A number of cases are cited by both parties. We think there is but little dispute as to the law. Being a question of fact, wherein we do not usually set out the evidence at any considerable length, perhaps as good a way as any is to set out the claims of each of the parties, as given by them in their briefs, without restating, in so far as they are alike. The statements are short. Appellant states:
Plaintiff is the owner of about 8 acres of land in Section 26, the north boundary line of which land coincides with the north boundary line of said section. Defendant owns a large tract of land in Section 23, bordering plaintiff’s said land on the north. Old fences of many years’ standing separated these tracts. Defendant claims that originally it was a board fence throughout its entire length. But a barbed wire at the west end and a hedge at the east replaced
Appellee says that he denies the section line as the true boundary line, and contends that the true boundary line is
It is also true that there never was any fence on the section line between the premises of appellee and appellant, and that the location of the original fence has never been changed, and stands today where it has stood for the last 72 years or more. It is further alleged that, a short time before appellee built his part of the fence, appellant had erected a gate at the extreme east end of his premises, and that, in building said gate, which swings on two posts, appellant planted the north post about one and one-half foot to the north of the east end of the old original fence, and that, because thereof, the appellee, in building his fence in the year 1915, and to avoid trouble with appellant, located the east end of his new fence about one foot north of the east end of the original fence, and on the ground of appellee; that, except as to this change, made necessary by appellant, there is absolutely no change between the location of the present fence and the original fence built more than 70 years ago; that, until about September, 1915, the fence, in its present location, was recognized and acquiesced in as the true boundary line, and this continued for a period of about 70 years, during all of which period appellee exercised full rights of ownership of the land on the north up to said, fence, and pastured and cultivated said land up to the fence; that the grantors of appellant, during said period of time, also cultivated the 8-acre tract up to the fence line, and never questioned the fence as the true boundary line between the two tracts of ground.
A commissioner was appointed, and additional testimony taken by the court. During the pendency of the case,
“There was never, at any time, a division or partition fence erected, built, or constructed on the section line between Sections 23 ánd 26; that, many years ago, to wit, at least 40 or 50 years ago, a partition, boundary, or division fence was built and erected between the lands described in the petition of the plaintiff, and that said fence was built south of said section line, between Sections 23 and 26; that, ever since the building of said fence, the respective owners of the land north and south of said fence occupied and used their respective lands up to said fence, and that the various owners of said land north and south of said fence recognizee! said fence as the boundary line between the premises, and acquiesced in said fence as the true boundary line between the property separated thereby; that, during said period of 40 or 50 years, none of the owners of the land north and south of said fence ever recognized the section line between Sections 23 and 26 as the boundary or division line between the land north and south thereof. The court further finds that said fence running east and west at a point south of the section line between Sections 23 and 26, was a well-defined and established fence, comparatively straight in an easterly and westerly line, and that said fence has continued all of said period of time, and has always been recognized as the boundary line, until the plaintiff and the intervener herein became the owners of said property, in the year 1914, when, for the first time, as shown by the evidence, objection was made to the said fence as the true boundary line between the properties described in the petition of plaintiff.”
'The fence erected by defendant was decreed to-be the
“WtUl, I guess the hedge was pretty nearly straight. You see, where the fence is here, and where they went down hill, it is pretty steep — they seemed to start off with the fence, up above there pretty straight, and when they got down toward the hill, they had nothing to guide them, and they varied from the line. It must have been where they originally made it. The fence has been there a great many years. The hedge end of the fence has never been changed. I have known the location of the place since about 1880. I have been on Mr. Hopson’s place many times. I have seen this fence, driving along the road. It ran east and west, of course. I saw the hedge fence first in 1881. It ran westerly from there.”
Plaintiff did net deny that the present fence was the recognized boundary line for many years before he became the owner. The appellee testified that he was 70 years old, and had lived all of his life on the premises now occupied by him. Testifies to a partition fence between the Chandler
“There never was any other boundary line, during my recollection, claimed or admitted by me or any of the other former owners of the property on the south. The west end was not built by someone else; I built it clear through. That fence line has never been disputed as being the correct line by any of the owners prior to Mr. Chandler, and it has been there for 70 years, I guess, or better.”
There is other evidence, and from all of it we are content with the findings of the trial court. Appellant cites cases on the following propositions: The claim of adverse possession cannot be based on disputed fence lines, or lines for mutual accommodation, or on lines placed on another’s land by mistake. A mere tentative 'line, when the true line is not known, will not support the claim of acquiescence. A party cannot acquiesce in a line constructed by himself, and bind the other party thereby. Fences not in a straight line, and those difficult to follow, will not support a claim of acquiescence. Government corners take precedence over meager and uncertain testimony. We think the case is ruled by Miller v. Mills County, 111 Iowa 654; Morley v. Murphy, 179 Iowa 853; Stevenson v. Robuck, 179 Iowa 461; Tice v. Shangle, 182 Iowa 601; Dake v. Ward, 168 Iowa 118; Dwight v.
2. It is thought by appellant that the court erred in making the judgment for costs a lien on plaintiff’s land involved herein, because it is his homestead.
Code Section 4238 provides:
“The costs in the proceeding shall be taxed as the court shall think just, and shall be a lien on the land or interest therein owned by the party or parties against whom they are taxed, so far as such land is involved in the proceeding.”
Code Section 2972 reads:
“The homestead of every family, whether owned by the husband or wife, is exempt from judicial sale, where there is no special declaration of statute to the contrary.”
This section was enacted prior to Section 4238. It will be noted that, by Section 2972, the homestead is exempt from judicial sale only “when there is no special declaration of statute to the contrary.” Section 4238 expressly makes' any judgment for costs a lien upon the land involved in the proceedings.
We are of opinion that the decree of the district court is right. — Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Frank Chandler v. Thomas J. Hopson
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published