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159 Ky. 412

Logan v. Williams

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

Decided June 4, 1914

Court of Appeals of Kentucky · decided 1914-06-04

<p>1. Ejectment — Title—Proof—Adverse Possession. — In an action in ejectment, plaintiff must recover on the strength of his own title, and must show either a title of record or by adverse possession for the statutory period.</p> <p>2. Adverse Possession — Requisites—Continuity.—To acquire title hy adverse possession, the possession must not only he actual, but so continuous as to furnish a cause of action every day during the wholé period.</p> <p>3. Ejectment — Title—Adverse Possession — Evidence—Peremptory.—■ In an action in ejectment where plaintiff failed to show a title oj! record or by adverse possession for the statutory period, it was error to submit the case to the jury.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1914-06-04

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently December 1933

6 state decisions

20191419201930decided

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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¶1OPINION OP THE COURT BY

William Rogers Clay, Commissioner

¶2Reversing.

¶3Plaintiff, J. C. Williams, bronglit this snit in ejectment against defendant, Jop Logan, to recover a tract of 50 acres of land lying in Whitley County. The. jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff. Judgment was entered accordingly, and defendant appeals.

¶4Plaintiff introduced the following surveys and conveyances :

¶5I. Survey made by John Berry, August 16,1821.

¶62. Deed from Dempsey White, by Commissioner, to James T. Curd, September 22, 1843.

¶73. Deed from James T. Curd to Mary A. Noe (Mary A. Williams), dated August 12, 1854.

¶84. Deed from Mary A. Williams to J. Curd Williams, dated March 4, 1897.

¶95.Deed from heirs of James T. Curd, by Commissioner, to Curd Williams, dated June 24, 1907.

¶10It appears that the deed of 1854 from James T. Curd to Mary A. Noe, and the deed of 1897 from Mary A. Williams (nee Noe) to J. Curd Williams, were set aside by the court in the division of the estate of James T. Curd. The same land was subsequently conveyed to plaintiff, J. Curd Williams, in the division and settlement of James T. Curd’s estate. As no deed from John Berry to Dempsey White was produced, it follows that plaintiff failed to make out a title of record. In an action of ejectment it is necessary for plaintiff to recover on the strength of his own title. In order to do this, he must show either a title of record or a title by adverse possession. To acquire title by adverse possession, the possession must not only be actual but so continued as to furnish a cause of action every day during the whole period. White v. McNabb, 140 Ky., 828. While plaintiff introduced two rent contracts covering the land in question, it was not shown *414that the tenants actually occupied the land or cultivated it, or that it was actually under fence for the statutory period. As several tracts of land are conveyed and separately described in the deeds under which .plaintiff claimed, he might have shown title by proving that his tenants actually entered on tracts adjoining the tract in question and embraced in the deeds under which he claims, with the intention of claiming and holding the tract in controversy, and that they did so claim and hold it for the statutory period. This, however, he failed to do. As plaintiff failed to show adverse possession for the statutory period, it follows that the court erred in submitting the case to the jury.

¶11Judgment reversed and cause remanded for new trial consistent with this opinion.

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