Roeder v. Fouts

Citations

• 5 Wash. 135
• 31 P. 432
• 1892 Wash. LEXIS 22

Syllabus

<p>PUBLIC LANDS — OREGON DONATION ACT — WHEN TITLE INCHES — ESTOPPEL.</p> <p>Under the act of congress of September 17,1850, known as the Oregon donation act, a qualified claimant who had resided upon and cultivated the land selected for a period of four years, acquired title thereby without the same being dependent upon the issuance of a final receipt or patent, and a deed by the donee under said act, before final proof by him, was effectual to pass the full legal title to the land.</p> <p>Although a person may own a third interest in a certain parcel of land, yet if he stands by at an administrator’s sale and permits the whole tract to be sold as the property of a decedent, and permits the purchaser to pay for the land, take possession, improve it and pay taxes on it under claim of absolute ownership, while the owner of the third interest, neither at the time of sale nor for a period of fifteen years following, claimed any interest in the property, he is estopped from setting up ownership.</p>