Hannibal & St. J. R. Co. v. Totman

• Citation: 149 Mo. 657,51 S.W. 412
• Parties: HANNIBAL & ST. J. R. CO. v. TOTMAN.
• Decision Date: 23 May 1899
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

51 S.W. 412

149 Mo. 657

HANNIBAL & ST. J. R. CO. v. TOTMAN.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

May 23, 1899.

RAILROADS — STATION GROUNDS — PUBLIC USE — ADVERSE POSSESSION — LIMITATION.

The acquiring of land by a railroad for right of way and station grounds is an appropriation to a public use, within Rev. St. 1889, § 6772, preventing the running of limitations against land so appropriated.

Appeal from circuit court, Clinton county; William S. Herndon, Judge.

Action by the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company against Edward Totman. There was a judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

This is an action of ejectment, commenced November 30, 1894, to recover a small strip of land in the town of Cameron. The petition is in proper form, and the defense is the statute of limitations. The cause was submitted to the court upon an agreed statement of facts, from which it appears that in 1856 the plaintiff, a railroad company, owning and operating a railroad through that portion of the state, acquired title to a strip of land running through the town of Cameron for its right of way, depot, and station grounds, and has had the same in its possession and in use in its general railroad business ever since that date, except that small part thereof which is the subject of this suit, and which was also in such possession and use of plaintiff until 1881, when one Aldrich went upon it, claiming to be the owner, and sold it to defendant, in 1882, for $125, when defendant took possession, inclosed it with a fence, erected buildings on it, and has been in possession ever since, claiming it as his own; that from 1859 to 1871 the land in dispute was embraced in a fence by plaintiff, which inclosed other land of the right of way strip, and plaintiff has continually since 1856 claimed title and right to its possession, and in 1882 or 1883 notified defendant of such claim, and demanded possession, which defendant refused, claiming to own it himself; that the rental value for the last seven years before the trial was $3 per month. The finding and judgment of the court was for the defendant, and, after due proceedings, the cause is here for review on plaintiff's appeal.

Spencer & Mosman, for appellant. Turney & Goodrich, for respondent.

VALLIANT, J. (after stating the facts).

Under this statement of facts the only question presented for our consideration is, does the statute which limits the time in which an action to recover possession of land may be commenced, apply to an action by a railroad company to recover possession of land acquired by it for its right of way, depot, and station grounds? Section 6772, Rev. St. 1889: "Nothing contained in any statute of limitations shall extend to any lands given, granted, sequestered or appropriated to any public, pious or charitable use, or to any lands belonging to this state." This statute reduces the question to this form: Is the acquisition of land by a railroad company for its right of way, depot, and station grounds an appropriation of the land to a public use? There are decisions in this state to the effect that title by adverse possession may be acquired to land appropriated to public use. Callaway Co. v. Nolley, 31 Mo. 393; School Directors v. George, 50 Mo. 194; Connecticut Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. City of St. Louis, 98 Mo. 422, 11 S. W. 969; Mississippi Co. v. Vowels, 101 Mo. 225, 14 S. W. 282. But these decisions cited in the brief for respondent were, some of them, rendered before the enactment of the statute above quoted, and the others related to rights acquired before that act went into effect. The only question in those...