Trager v. Elliott

Citations

• 106 Kan. 228
• 187 P. 875
• 1920 Kan. LEXIS 491

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Tax Deed — Possession of Grantee — Action to Recover. Ordinarily the grantee of a tax deed must either procure peaceable possession of the property covered by his deed within two years after his deed is recorded, or he must begin an action to recover within that time. (Civ. Code, § 15, subdiv. 3.)</p> <p>2. Same — Unoccupied Pravrie Land — Insufficient Evidence to Show Adverse Possession. Neither the grazing of cattle on unoccupied prairie land and on other similarly vacant prairie lands in the same locality, nor the occasional mowing of grass on such land, is sufficient to establish notice of a claim of exclusive possession in the holder of a rax</p> <p>' title to such unoccupied prairie land, especially when it is also shown that the cattle and horses of other settlers also ranged and grazed over the same locality and were not excluded from the land in dispute, and when it is also shown that it was a custom of the settlers of that locality to mow grass on vacant lands wherever it was available.</p> <p>3. Same — What Constitutes Adverse Possession. “To constitute adverse possession of land, it is not absolutely necessary that there should be inclosures, buildings, or cultivation, but the acts done must be such as to give unequivocal notice of the claim to the land, adverse to the claims of all others, and must be of such a character and so openly done that the real owner will be presumed to know that a possession adverse to his title has been taken.” (Dickinson v. Bales, 59 Kan. 224, 52 Pac. 447, Syl. ¶1.)</p> <p>4. Same — Wild Land — Presumptions as to Possession. The possession of open, wild and uncultivated land is constructively and presumably in the owner of the fee title.</p> <p>5. Same — Wild Lands — Limitation of Action for Possession. If land remains vacant and unoccupied after a tax deed to it is issued and recorded,'and thereafter the owner of the fee enters and takes possession, the tax-title holder must commence proc