46 N.C. 372
Supreme Court of North Carolina
Decided June 15, 1854
Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1854-06-15
Action on the Case for obstructing a private way, tried before his Honor Judge MANLY, atthe Spring Term, 1854, of Rocking-ham Superior Court. The road in question passed over the land of an ancestor of the plaintiff for sixty or seventy years, and had been used by him and by the plaintiff for that length of time as a mill road, and also for the purpose of going to meeting, and for getting out into the Danville Road, when they had occasion to visit that place.
Decided 1854-06-15
¶1The charge was, in effect, that if the plaintiff had used and enjoyed the way for more than twenty years, he was entitled to recover. This is correct, as far as it goes; but it does not go far enough. The user must be adverse, and as of right. No right can be acquired, unless it be claimed and asserted. This case is settled by that of Mebane v. Patrick, ante. 23; Ingram v. Hough, id. 39, not published until after the trial.
¶2Venire de novo.