Britton v. . Ruffin

Citations

• 28 S.E. 963
• 122 N.C. 113
• 1898 N.C. LEXIS 205

Syllabus

<p>Action for Breach of Warranty — Covenant of Warranty — Possession Under Color of Title — Trial—• Question for Jury.</p> <p>1. A deed purporting to convey title is color of title whether the grantor was the owner or not.</p> <p>2. Where, in the trial of an action for breach of covenant of warranty in a deed for land, it appeared that the plaintiff took possession under the deed of 1874, and defendant testified that plaintiff took possession of the land in 1874 and kept it until 1890, when he surrendered it to a claimant, in the meanwhile working and selling timber from it to other parties, it was error to instruct the jury that upon the whole evidence they should find that the plaintiff had not been in possession for seven years, the question whether there had been such possession being for the jury and not for the Court.</p> <p>3. If, in such case, the jury should have found that the plaintiff had been in adverse possession for seven years, his title had ripened when he surrendered the land and there has been no breach of warranty.</p>