Hollingsworth v. Sherman

Citations

• 81 Va. 668
• 1885 Va. LEXIS 30

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice at Common Law—Judgment by court—Evidence certified—Rule.—Where neither party requires a jury, and the whole mattér of law and fact are heard and determined and judgment given by the court, and the whole evidence is certified by the court in the bill of exceptions, the bill must be regarded as a demurrer to evidence by the plaintiff in error.</p> <p>2. Lands—Adversary possession—limitations.—The period of time necessary to ripen possession, under claim of right, into complete title, is determined by the limitations provided by law when plaintiff’s right of action first accrued.</p> <p>3. Idem—Idem—Bar of limitation.—The possession requisite to bar plaintiff’s right of entry must be actual, exclusive, uninterrupted, visible, notorious, and hostile, and must continue during the whole period of statutory limitation. Its character, however, depends upon the situation of the land and the condition of the country.</p> <p>4. Idem—Idem—Possession under color of deed.—If one merely assumes possession with claim of right, his ouster of plaintiff and his own possession extend no further than what he actually occupies, cultivates, encloses, or otherwise excludes the owner from. But if he enters under color of deed or other writing, he acquires actual possession to the extent of the boundaries contained in the writing.</p> <p>5. Idem—Idem—Privity—Continuity.—When several persons enter upon land in succession, the several possessions cannot be tacked so as to preserve the essential continuity unless there is privity of estate between them, or the several estates are connected. But one cannot sustain his defence of adversary possession if, during the period of limitation, the possession has been abandoned by him or those under whom he claims.</p> <p>6. Idem—Idem—Act-saving remedies —If the statutory period necessary to ripen adversary possession into complete title had not elapsed when tenant abandoned possession, he had acquired no right capable of preservation by t