Bradley v. West

60 Mo. 33
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 15, 1875
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 60 Mo. 33 (Bradley v. West) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradley v. West, 60 Mo. 33 (Mo. 1875).

Opinion

Wagner, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an action of ejectment to recover a quarter section of land within the military bounty tract.

The plaintiff proved title by a regular chain from the patentee of the government, and the defendant relied on the statute of limitations.

On the trial the plaintiff introduced evidence tending to show that on the morning of the 26th of April, 1869, he went on the land in company with another person for the purpose of leasing the same to him ; that he went around it and found the corners, and stepped off forty acres and threw up at the corners small mounds. He did not succeed in consummating the lease, and whilst he was on the land, defendant and his teams came upon it and were ordered off by plaintiff. He told defendant that he owned the land and was there to take possession and forbid the defendant doing any work upon it.

Defendant claimed that his lessor, oneLombard, owned the land and forbade plaintiff improving it. Defendant’s teams went to work plowing on the lands and some of his hands [37]*37built a rail pen on one side of it. Plaintiff then had some plowing done on another piece of the land and employed an agent to attend to it for him, and left for his home in New York. On the 22nd day of Jnne, 1871, he returned and entered upon the land. He found that defendant? had ten or twelve acres inclosed on the east side, and that his hired men. were plowing about four acres outside of the enclosure -and adjoining it. He ordered them off and told them.that he owned the land. Defendant’s improvements were on the east side of the tract, and plaintiff’s were on the west side.

Defendant read in evidence, as color of title a deed from one Turner to Lombard for the land in question dated April 16th, 1869, for the consideration as therein stated, of one hundred and fifty dollars. He then gave evidence in reference to. his possession.

The cause was tried before the court sitting as a jury, and a judgment was given for the plaintiff.

The court gave, four charges or requests for the plaintiff which will be noticed.

, The one numbered four in the series, declared that “the' plaintiff having the legal title, the legal seizin and possession followed the title ; and that the defendant setting up an adverse possession against such legal seizin and possession, must show, by evidence satisfactory to the court, that he, or those under whom he claims, have had a visible, notorious and continuous adverse possession of the land in controversy, under claim of right, and color of title thereto, during the period limited by the statute of limitations, before the commencement of this suit, otherwise the statute of limitations is no bar or defence against such legal seizin and possession.”

The fifth request was that “if the court find from the evidence, that the plaintiff by himself, his agent or tenant, was in the actual possession of a part of the premises in controversy, as the legal owner of the same, within and during the time limited for the commencement of this suit, then the plaintiff had the legal possession of the whole of said premises, and could only be dispossessed thereof by actual ouster; that the [38]*38defendant having entered upon said premises, not having the legal title thereto, and occupied and cultivated a part of -the same could only have possession of the part, so actually occupied and cultivated by him; that this adverse possession is to be taken strictly, and could not be made out by inference, but only by clear and positive proof; that it devolves upon the defendant to show by evidence satisfactory to the court, the character and extent of his actual possession; that such actual possession must have been open and uninterrupted, peaceable and continuous, for the whole time; next before the commencement of this action, limited by the statute of limitations, and that the plaintiff is entitled to recover all that part of the tract in controversy not so actually occupied by the defendant during the whole time limited by the statute of limitations prior to the commencement of this suit.”

The sixth request declares that “to constitute adverse possession, so as to bar a recovery by the rightful owner, the party setting up such possession, must, in making his entry upon the land, and in acquiring such possession, act in good faith, under claim of right and color of the title thereto; and if the court find from the evidence, that the defendant knew when he entered upon the land that he had no legal title thereto, but knew it to be Bradley’s land, and knew that the plaintiff was in the neighborhood for the purpose of taking possession and looking after the land; that when the defendant made his entry he found the plaintiff upon the land, claiming ownership and asserting title; that he did his plowing and built his rail pen for the purpose of preventing plaintiff from taking or acquiring possession of the premises, knowing him to be the rightful owner, then such possession, so acquired, will not serve the purpose of a foundation for an adverse possession, so as to bar the right of this plaintiff to recover.”

The eighth declaration was that “if the court find from the evidence, that the plaintiff in June, 1871, as the legal owner of the land in controversy, peaceably and openly entered into and upon the same claiming to be such owner and intending to take possession of the same; that he made such [39]*39claim of ownership upon the land, and' forbade the tenant of the defendant, or his servant, who was the only person found upon the land, from doing anything further, upon the land, or making any further improvements thereon, then such entry, so made, put the plaintiff, for the time he was upon the land, in the actual possession of the premises; and if such entry was followed by the commencement of this action within one year after such entry was made, then such entry was sufficient and valid as a claim, to avoid the operation of the statute of limitations and the plaintiff must recover.”

For the defendant the court declared the law to be; that the possession under color of title of a part of a tract or lot of land, in the name of the whole tract claimed, and exercising, during the time of such possession, the usual acts of ownership over the whole tract claimed, is deemed a possession of the whole tract.

The following declaration asked by the defendant was refused.

“If the defendant as the tenant of Lombard, under claim and color of title to the land in question, went into possession of a part of the same, in April, 1869, and for two years next ensuing, was and remained in the open, notorious and continuous adverse possession thereof, claiming the same for his landlord, Lombard, then the plaintiff’s right of action is barred ; and no entry will be sufficient or valid as a claim, unless made within the time in which an action may be brought for the recovery of such land, or the possession thereof; and if the plaintiff made an entry upon the land .in question after the defendant had been in the open, notorious and continuous adverse possession of the same for more than two years, then such entry was not sufficient or valid as a claim.”

An objection was raised to the introduction of one of plaintiff’s deeds in evidence, on the ground that it was not acknowledged in conformity with the law of the State of New York, where the acknowledgment was taken, or in accordance with the provisions of the statute of this State.

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Bluebook (online)
60 Mo. 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradley-v-west-mo-1875.