Dibble v. Bellingham Bay Land Co.

Citations

• 163 U.S. 63
• 16 S. Ct. 939
• 41 L. Ed. 72
• 1896 U.S. LEXIS 2245

Syllabus

<p>In a suit in a state court to quiet title, two claims to title were set up by tbe plaintiff. The first was that his title had been acquired by adverse possession, sufficient under the local law. On this point the trial court found that, in 1862, the plaintiff's grantor entered into possession of the land in question, and that he and the plaintiff had since been continuously and then were in actual, notorious and adverse possession thereof, under color and claim of title. The second claim was under a deed from husband and wife, executed by the former under an alleged power of attorney from the latter which had been lost without having been recorded. On this point the trial court found that the existence and validity of tlie power of attorney was established. It entered a decree that the plaintiff was entitled to the possession of tiie land, that the defendant was not the owner of it, that tlie cloud be removed, and that the power of attorney be established. On appeal to the Supreme Court of the State this decree was affirmed. The case being brought here by writ of error the Chief Justice of tlie Supreme Court of the State certified that the question bad been duly raised in the trial court whether the said power and the deed made under it, which, by tlie law at the time of its mailing were absolutely void, were made valid by the territorial act of February 2, 1S88, and whether, if so made valid, it was not iu violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Held, that, as it was settled in the State that actual, uninterrupted and notorious possession, under claim of right, was sufficient without color of title, and that a void deed, accompanied with actual occupancy, was sufficient to set the statute of limitations in motion, the judgment could be sustained on the first point, which raised no Federal question, and that consequently this court was without jurisdiction.</p> <p>If the record discloses that a question has been raised and decided adversely to