Hughes v. Stevers

Citations

• 95 Ill. 391
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 190

Syllabus

<p>1. Adverse possession—what constitutes. It has been held that an individual making an entry on land of the United States before grant, remains an intruder still after grant by the United States, and liable to be sued in trespass.</p> <p>2. Where a person obtained a patent from the United States, while another was in possession under an entry made prior to that time, it appeared the patentee stated, after the grant from the government., that the person in possession had bought the land, and that he, the patentee, had made him a deed, and that, subsequently, the occupant gave it back to him to secure a store account, and that the occupant had paid him for the land. The witness by whom this statement was proven, also testified that he had known the occupant for twenty-five years on the land; that he claimed the premises, cleared and built on it, and cut. timber on it, and that the statements by the patentee were made more than twenty years before the trial. It was held, that, under this state of facts, it might be regarded the possession of the occupant was adverse to the patentee, as showing what would be tantamount to a new entry after the grant from the United States;—that the occupant was holding adverse to all the world, in his own right, as owner by purchase of the title from the patentee.</p>