Gage v. Gentzel

Citations

• 144 Ill. 450
• 33 N.E. 536

Syllabus

<p>l, Burnt Records act — bill to establish title — allegations and proofs. On bill to establish title under the Burnt Records act, it is not necessary for the petitioner to allege or prove the destruction of the evidence of his chain of title, but only that the records, or material part thereof, have been destroyed by fire or otherwise so that a connected chain of title can not be deduced therefrom.</p> <p>2. On such a bill it is competent to show a perfect possessory title in the petitioner, without making any proof of title antecedent to the possession taken.</p> <p>3. The fact that it is alleged in such petition that particular deeds were lost, will not prevent their introduction in evidence upon the hearing, as they may have been found since the filing of the bill.</p> <p>4. The bill in a proceeding, under the Burnt Records act, to establish complainant’s title, is not required to set forth or charge that a defendant’s title is illegal. It is only necessary that adverse claimants be made defendants, and the burden is on them to establish their title to the property.</p> <p>5. Same — of the decree. On bill to establish title, under the Burnt Records act, the court is required to decree, not what the records showed before they were destroyed, but in whom the title is vested.</p> <p>6. In a proceeding under the Burnt Records act a defendant, whose tax title is set aside, can not complain of the failure of the court to require the complainant to refund to him, with interest, the money paid by him in acquiring his tax deed, when he fails to introduce any evidence in respect to such title.</p> <p>7. Same — decree conclusive on all parties as to all claims that might have been made. A decree on a bill, under the Burnt Records act, establishing the title in fee in the complainant, is conclusive upon all adverse claimants who are made parties, and a bar to their ever afterward setting up any title or claim they may have, as much so as if their claim or title was express