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142 Pa. 96

Keller v. Powell

Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Luzerne County · decided 1891-04-27

No. 98 January Term 1891, Sup. Ct.; court below, No. 114 October Term 1887, G. P. On June 21, 1887, John Keller brought ejectment against John Powell and William Keating for 120 perches of land in Plymouth township. The plaintiff’s declaration was afterwards amended so as to claim 14,948 square feet of land. The defendants pleaded not guilty, and the statute of limitations.

Relies on Washabaugh v. Entriken

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1891-04-27

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently June 2007

3 state decisions

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Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Per Curiam :

¶1The first assignment does not conform to the Rules of Court. The remaining assignments present a single question of law, viz., when does title begin under a descriptive warrant duly surveyed and returned ? The appellant contends that it commences with the date of the return of the survey; the appellees contend that it begins with the date of the warrant.

¶2This, as before observed, was a descriptive warrant; its boundaries are fully set forth therein. A descriptive warrant gives a right of entry: Bechtel v. Rhoads, 3 S. & R. 333. The warrantee has an equitable title, commencing with the date of the warrant. His title bears a close analogy to that of a vendee under articles of agreement. A descriptive warrant, and payment of part of the purchase money, gives an equitable interest in the land from its date, which can only be divested by conveyance or twenty-one years’ adverse possession: Washabaugh v. Entriken, 34 Pa. 74. When the patent issues, the warrantee becomes possessed of the full legal title, and it relates back to the inception of his equitable title. We are of opinion the statute runs from the date of the warrant.

¶3Judgment affirmed.

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