Fitzwater v. Fassett

Citations

• 69 Pa. Super. 286
• 1918 Pa. Super. LEXIS 380

Syllabus

<p>Adverse possession — Land covered with water — Evidence.</p> <p>The fact that land is covered with water does not render its acquisition by adverse possession impossible. Where such land is the subject of private ownership title by adverse possession may be acquired by any means which actually and notoriously excludes and disseizes the. true owner. Neither the physical exclusion of the owner, nor the actual residence of the adverse claimant is necessary. To establish adverse possession there must be evidence of the use of the land, and the water over it for the purposes such property is ordinarily used by the owner.</p> <p>In an action of trespass involving the question of the ownership of a strip of land along the banks of an artificial lake, partly submerged, and claimed by the plaintiff to have been acquired by adverse possession, a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained, where the evidence shows that the strip adjoined land owned by the plaintiff, that he took possession of the strip with the idea of establishing title by adverse possession, that he maintained his line fences to low water mark to keep in his cattle which grazed on the strip and went into the lake for water, that he planted grass seed thereon, cut brush and wood for fuel, and permitted parties to use the lake shore as a camping place, and that such possession had continued for over twenty-one years.</p>