Sharon v. Tucker

Citations

• 144 U.S. 533
• 12 S. Ct. 720
• 36 L. Ed. 532
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 2096

Syllabus

<p>Adverse possession 6f real estate' in the District of Columbia, for the period designated by the Statute of Limitations in force there, confers upon the occupant a'complete title upon which he can stand as fully as if he had always held the undisputed title of record.</p> <p>A possession, to be adverse, must be open, visible, continuous and exclusive, with a claim of ownership, such as will notify parties seeking information upon the subject that the premises are not held in subordination to any title or claim of others, but against all titles and claimants.</p> <p>A person who has acquired title by adverse possession may maintain a bill in equity against those who, hut for such acquisition, would have been the owners, for the purpose of having his title judicially ascertained and declared, and to enjoin the defendants from asserting title to the same premises from former ownership that has been lost.</p> <p>Such a bill is not a bill of peace, nor is it strictly a bill quia timet. The ground of the jurisdiction is the obvious difficulty and embarrassment in asserting and protecting a title not evidenced by any record, but resting in the recollection of witnesses, and the warrant for its exercise is found in the ordinary jurisdiction of equity to perfect and complete the means by which the right, estate or interest of holders of real property, that is their title, may be proved or secured, or to remove obstacles to its enjoyment.</p>