D&C, Adverse Possession Flashcards
Rule of Capture
When referring to the capture of a person(s) chattel or animal, or, when wild animals are hunted on public land and are mortally wounded.
Pierson v. Post - established pursuit of that animal is not enough. The law rewards whoever delivers the fatal blow. This rule later began to apply to chattel or inanimate objects, like oil and gas.
Capturing on Private Land
Applying the doctrine of ratione soli.
Refers to when capturing resources or animals on private property. This rule protects landowner’s reasonable expectations that trespassers will not be rewarded, and the reward defaults to the landowner.
Law of Finds
Refers to rewarding the possessors of found items, subject to two important modifiers:
1. Prior possessors defeat subsequent possessors
2. The rightful owner of the item defeats the possessor
LOF endeavors to facilitate the return of a found item to its rightful owner. AKA the true owner defeats all.
HOWEVER, it seeks to honor finders’ reasonable expectations that they will not be divested of their possession by anyone other than the item’s true owners. Thus, a prior possessor has rights paramount to any subsequent possessor.
Lost-Mislaid Doctrine
Lost Items - meaning an item accidentally parted with, goes to the finder.
- Going to finder is due to the assumption that the true owner not knowing where they lost said object, so therefore, would not know where to go back and look for it, and finder would then be able to keep it.
Mislaid Items - meaning an item intentionally placed by unintentionally left behind, had to be turned in to management, who held the item in trust for the true owner.
- Going back to owner is due to an assumption that the owner would know where they mislaid the item, and by the finder return the item to management is a way for the law to try and facilitate the return of the item to its true owner.
This Doctrine has since been replaced by statutes that endeavor to set forth a categorical duty to turn in items found, irrespective of whether those items might be deemed lost or misplaced.
i.e, lost and found, finders keepers y todo
Adverse Possession Elements
COAH:
Continuous, Open and Notorious, Actual, Hostile
Continuous - uninterrupted for the appropriate statutory period, normally ten to thirty years, depending on jurisdiction.
Open and Notorious - the sort of possession that the usual owner would make under the circumstances. Occupation must be visible.
Actual - possessor made an actual physical entry onto the premises and take possession to start the appropriate time length requirement. Entry can be symbolic, fictitious, or hypothetical. A letter, “intent to possess”, is not adequate entry.
Hostile - possessor does not have the true owner’s permission to be there.
Tacking
To satisfy the given statutory period, one adverse possessor may tack on to his time with the land his predecessor’s time, so long as there is privity. Privity is satisfied by any non-hostile nexus between the possessors, such as descent, contract, deed, or will
Disabilities
The statute of limitations will not run against a true owner who is afflicted by a disability at the inception of the adverse possession. Common disabilities, usually prescribed by statute, include infancy, insanity and imprisonment.
Example: Thus, if O, the true owner of Blackacre, is a minor at the inception of the adverse possession, or insane, or in prison, or in a coma, the statute of limitations will not run against him or her. Here is the most essential point: To benefit from disabilities protection, the true owner must be afflicted at the inception of the adverse possession. A belated affliction will not inure to the benefit of the true owner.
Constructive Adverse Possession
When a possessor assumes possession of land under color of title.
a. Color of Title is when possessor claim to the land is based on a deed that turns out to be defective.
b. A deed is defective when, it is not properly executed, or grantor never owned the parcel that the deed purports to convey, or grantor lacked the mental competence to convey.
A possessor who enters with a color of title has an advantage, even if she physically occupies only part of the land described in the deed, she is considered the constructive possessor of the entire parcel
Adverse Possession of Chattel
Chattel is a moveable and tangible good, unlike land. Adverse element, open and notorious cannot be satisfied.
Replaced by the question of, whether the possessor’s use of the item was sufficiently visible throughout the given statutory period to put the item’s rightful owner on notice of the adverse claim.
○ Replevin (recovery of lost or stolen items) does not begin to run until the items owner learns, or through the exercise of due diligence should have learned the facts which form the basis of the replevin cause of action. ○ The discovery rule tolls the statute of limitations as long as the owner remains vigilant and diligent in attempting to locate the item's whereabouts.
