Hunter v. Pinnell

• Citation: 193 Mo. 142,91 S.W. 472
• Parties: HUNTER v. PINNELL.
• Decision Date: 31 January 1906
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

91 S.W. 472

193 Mo. 142

HUNTER v. PINNELL.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

January 31, 1906.

1. LIMITATION OF ACTIONS — ACTIONS TO RECOVER LAND — STATUTES — RETROACTIVE OPERATION.

Rev. St. 1899, § 4270, providing that nothing contained in any statute of limitations shall extend to lands granted or appropriated to any public use, or to any lands belonging to the state, does not prevent the statute, limiting actions to recover lands to 10 years, from applying to swamp lands patented by the state to a county, while held and owned by such county when possession was taken by the adverse claimant before August 1, 1866, when section 4270 became a law.

2. ADVERSE POSSESSION — TEMPORARY ABANDONMENT.

Temporary absence from land, without any intention of finally abandoning it, did not break the continuity of possession.

Appeal from Circuit Court, New Madrid County; Hy. C. Riley, Judge.

Action by Lee Hunter against W. W. Pinnell. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Geo. H. Traylor, for appellant. Lawrence W. Fisher, for respondent.

BURGESS, P. J.

This is an action by plaintiff (appellant) against the defendant, both of whom claim title to the tract of land described in the petition, to ascertain and determine the estate, title, and interest of the parties, respectively, in such real estate. The suit is prosecuted under section 650, Rev. St. 1899. Both parties claim title in fee to said real estate; the plaintiff by derivative title from the government, and the defendant by reason of the 10 years' statute of limitations, under color of title. The petition is in due form. The answer denies plaintiff's title to the land, pleads the statute of limitations, and prays that defendant may be decreed the owner of the land, and that all other claimants claiming under and by virtue of any patent from New Madrid county, Mo., issued since 1865, be declared forever barred from setting up or maintaining any claim in deed to said premises, etc. The trial before the court resulted in a judgment and decree in favor of defendant, as prayed for in his answer. Plaintiff appeals.

The land in question is what is known as swamp land, and was patented to New Madrid county by the state of Missouri June 15, 1857, and by New Madrid county to the plaintiff, Lee Hunter, on the 8th day of October, 1901. Defendant claims color of title to the land, and title under the statute of limitations, and such color by reason of mesne conveyance from Albert...