McCaslin v. State

75 N.E. 844, 38 Ind. App. 184, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 289
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 31, 1905
DocketNo. 5,440
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 75 N.E. 844 (McCaslin v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCaslin v. State, 75 N.E. 844, 38 Ind. App. 184, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 289 (Ind. Ct. App. 1905).

Opinion

Myers, P. J.

Appellee begun this suit against appellants in the'Superior Court of Marion County by filing a complaint in three paragraphs. Thereafter the venue was changed to the Boone Circuit Court, where the case was tried before a jury, verdict returned, and judgment rendered in favor of appellee.

The first and second paragraphs of complaint are in the ordinary form, the first demanding possession of, and the second praying that appellee’s title be quieted to, 100 acres of land in Marion county, Indiana. The third paragraph is to quiet title, and avers the facts in detail, upon which judgment is sought. A great number of pleadings were filed in the case, but we shall only notice those upon which a question is presented for our consideration.

1. (1) It has been held a number of times by the Supreme Court and this Court that only such questions as are discussed by the parties asserting error on appeal will be considered. All other questions will be deemed to have been waived. Hoover v. State (1903), 161 Ind. 348; Smith v. Borden (1903), 160 Ind. 223; Clear Creek Stone Co. v. Dearmin (1903), 160 Ind. 162; Franklin v. Lee (1902), 30 Ind. App. 31; City of Greenfield v. Johnson (1902), 30 Ind. App. 127.

(2) Appellant William McCaslin insists that the court erred in sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the second and third paragraphs of his cross-complaint. Omitting the formal parts of the second paragraph, William McCaslin avers “that he has been the owner in open, notorious, [186]*186unequivocal, continuous and execlusive possession of the real estate described as follows, to wit: [describing the real estate by metes and bounds] containing 100 acres, for the last thirty-eight years or more; that the plaintiff in this cause is claiming some, interest therein, and this cross-complainant prays' that his title in ,&nd to said above-described real estate be quieted, and for any and all proper relief herein.” The material allegations of the third paragraph are as follows: “William MeCaslin states that on or about 1860 he entered into the open, notorious, unequivocal and exclusive possession of the following described real estate, to wit: [describing the lands by metes and bounds] containing 100 acres, and as such owner his title is under a cloud, for the reason that the plaintiff herein claims to own the same as against this defendant, and he prays that his title to the same be quieted, and for all proper relief in the premises.” It is apparent that in both of these paragraphs William MeCaslin bases his title and right to the real estate as against appellee upon the doctrine of title by prescription or adverse possession.

2. Section 221, 2 R. S. 1852, p. 78, provides: “Limitation of' actions shall bar the State of Indiana and the United States as other persons.” This limitation continued in force until September 19, 1881, and since that time the common-law rule has prevailed, except as to sureties. §305 Burns 1901, §304: R. S. 1881; State, ex rel. v. Halter (1898), 149 Ind. 292.

3. While appellant William MeCaslin avers in the second paragraph of his cross-complaint that he had the continuous possession of said real estate for thirty-eight years, it does not appear that he had such possession for twenty years, prior to September 19, 1881, and if the rights of the State were not barred at that time, whatever rights it had then continued unaffected by appellants’ possession. This paragraph was filed April 23, 1903, and under its averments we think it insufficient to show a bar as [187]*187against the rights of the State, by reason of the twenty-year limitation statute.

4. By the averments in paragraph three, it appears that on or about the year I860 he took exclusive possession of said real estate, but for what time or how long he continued in such possession does not appear.

In Worthley v. Burbanks (1897), 146 Ind. 534, it is said in the syllabus that in order to constitute adverse possession five indispensable elements must appear: “(1) It must be hostile and under a claim of right. (2) It must be actual. (3) It must be opdn and notorious. (4) It must be exclusive. (5) It must be continuous.” In support of this rule the court cites numerous authorities.

In Peterson v. McCullough (1875), 50 Ind. 35, the court said: “To acquire a right by prescription, there must be an actual enjoyment. Prescription acquires for the party precisely what he has possessed, and nothing more, and in proving a prescription the user of the right is the only evidence of the extent to which it has been acquired. The use and enjoyment of what is claimed must have been adverse, under a claim of right, exclusive, continuous, uninterrupted, and with the knowledge and acquiescence of the owner of the estate, in, over or out of which the easement prescribed for is claimed, and while such owner was able, in law, to assert and enforce his rights, and to resist such adverse claim, if not well founded.”

Applying the cases from which we have just quoted to the facts as they appear from the allegations of the second and third paragraphs of William McCaslin’s cross-complaint, we are of the opinion that neither of these paragraphs is sufficient to withstand a demurrer for want of facts, and therefore we find no error in the ruling of the trial court.

[188]*1885. [187]*187(3) Appellants contend that their motion for a venire de novo should have been sustained. Upon an examination [188]*188of the record we find that on May 10, 1904, this cause was regularly submitted to a jury for trial, and on the same day the following verdict was returned: “We, the jury, fed for the plaintiff.” On May 11, 1904, final judgment on the verdict in favor of appellee was rendered. On May 13, appellants filed a motion for a venire de novo, which was by the court overruled. There was no error in this ruling, as it has been held a number of times by the Supreme Court of this State, and by this Court as well, that a motion for a venire de novo, to be effective, must be made before final judgment, and when not so made no question is presented. Bennett v. Simon (1899), 152 Ind. 490; Potter v. McCormack (1891), 127 Ind. 439; Shaw v. Merchants Nat. Bank (1877), 60 Ind. 83; Cannon v. Castleman (1900), 24 Ind. App. 188; Sloan v. Lick Creek, etc., Gravel Road Co. (1893), 6 Ind. App. 584.

6. (4) Upon completion of the issues in this cause, and before the same were submitted to the jury for trial, appellants filed their joint motion for judgment upon the pleadings, which motion was by the court overruled, and this ruling is here assigned as error. In support of this motion, appellants contend that §7164 Burns 1901, Acts 1883, p. 170, §9, provides the remedy the State shall pursue to secure possession of any of its lands unlawfully held or in the possession of any one, and controls and governs the State in its procedure in this case. This section of the statute must be construed in connection with the whole act, of which it is a part. This statute was enacted by the General Assembly in 1883 (Acts 1883, p. 170, §7156 et seq.

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Bluebook (online)
75 N.E. 844, 38 Ind. App. 184, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccaslin-v-state-indctapp-1905.