Wright v. Kleyla
| Decision Date | 11 December 1885 |
| Docket Number | 12,234 |
| Citation | 4 N.E. 16,104 Ind. 223 |
| Parties | Wright v. Kleyla |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Tipton Circuit Court.
Judgment affirmed.
J. M Fippen, for appellant.
J. N Waugh, J. P. Kemp and G. H. Gifford, for appellee.
The facts stated in the special verdict are substantially these: In 1848, the appellant became the wife of Amasa P. Casler and continued to occupy that relation until his death in December, 1864. The land in controversy was conveyed to the appellant's husband in June, 1852, and in November, 1854, was levied upon and sold to satisfy a judgment against him. In March, 1856, a deed was executed to one of the remote grantors of the appellee by the appellant, but in this deed her husband did not join.
The deed of the appellant executed in March, 1856, was not effectual to convey title; it was, however, sufficient to convey color of title to the land described, for the grantor was not a stranger, but had some interest to convey. A void deed will convey color of title. Bell v. Longworth, 6 Ind. 273; Vancleave v. Milliken, 13 Ind. 105; Doe v. Hearick, 14 Ind. 242; Bauman v. Grubbs, 26 Ind. 419; Brenner v. Quick, 88 Ind. 546, see p. 552.
The appellee and his grantors have, therefore, been in possession under color of title since March, 1856, and as this action was not brought until April, 1884, it is barred by the twenty years' statute, unless the fact that the appellant was under the disability of coverture until December, 1864, postponed the time when the statute began to run until that date. Our opinion is that the disability of the appellant did not postpone the time when the statute began to run.
The statute of limitations runs against all persons, whether under disability or not, unless they are excepted from its operation. Angell Lim., sections 476, 485.
A recent author says: "The statute of limitations begins to run against a party immediately upon the accrual of a right of action, unless at that time he was under some of the disabilities named in the statute; and a saving or exception not found in the statute will not be implied." Wood Lim. 495. This doctrine was explicitly announced in Strong v. Makeever, 102 Ind. 578, 1 N.E. 502, see opinion on petition for a rehearing. A like doctrine has been announced in other cases. Breeding v. Shinn, 8 Ind. 125; Vancleave v. Milliken, supra; Frantz v. Harrow, 13 Ind. 507; Vail v. Halton, 14 Ind. 344; Gray v. Stiver, 24 Ind. 174; White v. Clawson, 79 Ind. 188; Wright v. Wright, 97 Ind. 444.
Our statute makes no exceptions; it is general in its terms and operates upon all persons. It does, however, make special provision for persons under legal disability, but not by excepting them from its operation. The special provision which it makes is this: "Any person being under legal disabilities when the cause of action accrues, may bring his action within two years after the disability is removed." The effect of this provision is, not to change the time when the statute begins to run, in cases of persons under disability, but to allow them two years after the disability has been removed in which to bring an action. The provision proceeds upon the theory that the statute runs from the time the cause of action accrues, and, proceeding on this theory, grants two years' time after the removal of the disability, although the full time may have expired. It does not grant twenty years to an infant after he becomes of age nor does it grant that period to a married woman after the removal of the disability of coverture, but it does grant to persons under disability two years after the removal of their disability, although the statute may have been running for full twenty years. On the other hand, it does not cut down the twenty years, for, if the period of twenty years from the time the cause of action accrued has not expired, the party is entitled to the whole of the unexpired time in which to bring his action. To illustrate: Suppose ten years to have expired at the time of the removal of the disability, then the party would have the unexpired period of ten years in which to sue; but, if the full twenty years had expired, then two years after the removal of the disability would be all that would be allowed the party. It is only in cases where the period of twenty years has fully expired, or where twenty years would not carry the time two years beyond the...
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