Reynolds v. Ellison

• Decision Date: 02 December 1920
• Docket Number: No. 20925.,20925.
• Citation: 225 S.W. 948
• Parties: REYNOLDS et al. v. ELLISON.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

225 S.W. 948

REYNOLDS et al. v. ELLISON.

No. 20925.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

December 2, 1920.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Douglas County; Fred Stewart, Judge.

Ejectment by 3. A. G. Reynolds and others against Sam Ellison. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

J. S. Clarke, of Ava, for appellants.

A. C. Kice, of Ava, for respondent.

RAGLAND, C.

This is an action in ejectment for the recovery of the southwest fourth of the southwest quarter of section 3, township 25, range 17, in Douglas county, Mo. It was commenced July 15, 1917. The petition is conventional. The answer is a general denial coupled with a plea of the 10-year statute of limitations.

The cause was submitted on an agreed statement of facts. From this it appears that the land in question was patented by the United States to Scotland county, Mo., as "swamp indemnity land," March 27, 1868; that Scotland county by commissioner deeded it to plaintiffs April 18, 1910; that plaintiffs have never been in the actual possession of the land; but that defendant and those under whom he claims have been in the open, notorious, and adverse possession thereof since February 8, 1898, to the present time, paying taxes thereon and exercising the usual acts of ownership over it.

The court found the issues for defendant and gave judgment accordingly. Plaintiffs appeal.

1. The only question presented by the record and briefed by counsel is whether the statute of limitations will run against a county so as to deprive such county of its title to swamp lands. Under repeated rulings of this court, extending hack a quarter of a century, that question must be answered in the affirmative. Truitt v. Bender, 193 S. W. 838, 839; Lumber Co. v. Craig, 248 Mo. 319, 330, 154 S. W. 73; Dunklin County v. Chouteau, 120 Mo. 577, 595, 25 S. W. 553; Palmer v. Jones, 188 Mo. 163, 85 S. W. 1113; Hunter v. Pinnell, 193 Mo. 142, 91 S. W. 472. The judgment is affirmed. "

BROWN and SMALL, CC., concur.

PER CURIAM.

The foregoing opinion of RAGLAND, C., is adopted as the opinion of the court.

All the Judges concur.