Scott v. Mineral Development Co.

Citations

• 130 F. 497
• 64 C.C.A. 659
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4189

Syllabus

<p>1. Adverse Possession — Federal Courts — Following State Decisions.</p> <p>The Kentucky statute of limitations relating to actions for the recovery of land has been liberally construed and applied by the Court of Appeals of the state in respect to the adverse possession of settlers which will ripen into a title thereunder, on account of the confusion created by the loose practice of the state in issuing patents for conflicting grants, and its decisions, having become a rule of property in the state, will be followed by the federal courts.</p> <p>2. Same — What Constitutes — Kentucky Statutes.</p> <p>Under the statute of limitations of Kentucky (Ky. St. 1903, § 2505), which requires an action for the recovery of land to be brought within 15 years after the right to institute it accrues, and the champerty statute (Id. § 210), which provides that “all sales or conveyances * * * of any lands * * * of which any other person at the time of such sale, contract or conveyance has adverse possession shall be null and void,” the elements constituting adverse possession are the same.</p> <p>3. Same — Extent op Possession.</p> <p>An entry into possession of any part of a tract of land, under a deed containing specific metes and bounds and purporting to convey the same, gives constructive possession of the whole tract, if not in any adverse possession; and a continuation of such possession, although actually of only a part, but under claim of title to the whole, for the statutory period, will give the occupant title to the whole by adverse possession, at least against one out of possession who claims title to the entire tract through a single conveyance and source of title.</p> <p>4. Same — Separate Tracts Conveyed by Single Deed.</p> <p>A title founded on adverse possession under a deed which purports to convey the title is wholly independent of prior conveyances or of the grantor’s actual title, and it is therefore immaterial whether his title to the whole was obtained from