Bird v. Whetstone
Bird v. Whetstone
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The evidence in the case was not preserved, and the rights of the parties must, therefore, be determined by the findings made by the trial
Under the facts found, however, it cannot be said that Whetstone remained in possession of the. land after his deed was made and recorded. The land was not fenced, cultivated or otherwise improved until 1880. When Whetstone conveyed it to his niece it was unoccupied, and his possession was only constructive. His conveyance of the vacant land transferred both title and possession to his grantee. In such a case the possession is deemed to follow the title. (Gildehaus v. Whiting, 39 Kan. 706, 18 Pac. 916; 15 Cyc. 36.) Such possession as Whetstone had was therefore interrupted from 1874 until 1880, during which time it must be regarded as having been in his grantee. When he enclosed the land, in 1880, and cultivated and improved it, his possession, then taken, was wholly independent of the constructive possession that he held at the time of the conveyance to his niece.
The supreme court of Nebraska had under consid
“The holder of the legal title to vacant lands is deemed to be in possession thereof. (Troxell v. Johnson, 52 Neb. 46, 71 N. W. 968.) Hence, when Horbaeh executed and delivered a deed to Boyd which conveyed the legal title, possession went with it. The land being vacant, the same act that devested Horbach’s title and created a title in Boyd terminated Horbach’s possession, and put Boyd in possession. Such possession, as we understand the defendant’s claim, continued for four years. Then, in 1861, as defendant offered to prove, Horbaeh enclosed the land and other tracts with a substantial fence; he and his lessees cultivated it; he publicly and notoriously claimed to own it, and was named as owner on maps and plats in general circulation ; the land was assessed as his; he conveyed it, and he and his grantees and lessees put' houses upon it. This is not a continuance of the possession existing prior to the conveyance. It is a subsequent entry, creating a new and independent possession, and giving rise to a new and original title.” (Horbach v. Boyd, 64 Neb. 129, 132, 89 N. W. 644.)
Whetstone was out of possession of the land for about six years, and the possession taken in 1880 and exclusively held for about twenty years before this action was begun is to be regarded as a distinct and independent possession, and as the foundation of a new and original title. As he did not continue in possession after conveyance the rule invoked as °to the kind of disclaimer necessary to change a permissive possession into an adverse one has no application. His occupancy and improvements were an open assertion of a claim of right in the land, and were of such a character as to give notice to Hannah Dryden and others interested in the land of an intention to appropriate it. He entered upon the land with the intention “to keep it” for himself, and the fact that he then had
“Possession of land by an adverse occupant for more than fifteen years, which is actual, notorious, continuous, and exclusive, will give title thereto, although such possession is entirely destitute of color of title.” (Pratt v. Ard, 63 Kan. 182, 65 Pac. 255.)
The findings of fact sufficiently support the judgment which'was rendered, and it is therefore affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- H. O. Bird et ux. v. J. H. Whetstone
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. Real Estate — Title by Adverse Possession. Where the owner of vacant and unimproved land conveys it to another the grantee, by reason of his legal title, will be deemed to be in possession thereof, and the grantor may subsequently acquire a new title thereto by a new and independent possession which is adverse, notorious, continuous and exclusive for more than fifteen years.