83 Iowa 481 | Iowa | 1891
The plaintiff and his grantors have paid the taxes on the land in controversy since the year 1865, and they have been in the actual possession thereof under claim of right since the year 1872. This action was commenced on the twenty-seventh day of November, 1889. The said Caleb Clark made no defense to the action. Ruth Clark answered, setting up her homestead and inchoate right to dower in the land. The homestead right is based upon the claim that she has never been divested of said right by a conveyance which she and her husband concurred in and signed the same joint instrument as required by section 1990 of the Code. The plaintiff claims that, as he, and those under whom he claims, have been in the continuous, open, notorious and adverse possession of said land under claim of right since the year 1872, such possession has ripened into a perfect title, which he can assert and maintain against all the world. "We have held that such a title creates not only a defensive right, but that it is an affirmative right, which may be asserted and maintained in an action to quiet title. Cramer v. Clow, 81 Iowa, 255. Some question is made by counsel for the appéllant as to whether the possession of the plaintiff and his grantors was adverse. We think this is conceded by the agreed statement of facts and the pleadings in the case. The possession was exclusive, open and notorious and continuous under claim of right, and the