68 Ga. 259 | Ga. | 1881
An action of ejectment was brought by the defendant in error on the several demises of Josiah Morris and John G. Winter against Richard Roe, casual ejector, and James C. Cook, as tenant in possession, to recover a parcel of land, with the appurtenances, lying and being in the county of Muscogee and state of Georgia, known as the site of the Rock Island Paper Mills, the dam and all the power, rights, privileges, appurtenances and property of said Rock Island Paper Mills in the Chattahoochee river to high-water mark on the western side of said river, together with the island in said river known as Rock Island, being the island to which the Rock Island Paper Mills extended its dam from the factory site on the Alabama shore, said island being the first island below island number 27, containing four acres.
To this action the defendant, Cook, filed a plea of the' general issue. When the case was called for trial, by agreement of counsel, it was consented that the cause
(1.) The first ground of alleged error is that the court erred when plaintiff offered to read in evidence the deed made by R. J. Moses and H. Hull to R. L. Mott. The defendant objected to the same upon the ground that it was not pertinent to the issue, and among other grounds, that it purported to convey lands in Alabama and on the Chattahoochee river and could convey no title east, and beyond high-water mark on said river, which objection was overruled by the court.
(2.) Because the court erred in admitting in evidence the deed from R. L. Mott and wife to the Rock Island Paper Mills for the same premises, over the objection of defendant.
(3.) Because the court erred in deciding that plaintiff had acquired title to the premises by prescription.
(4.) Because the finding and judgment of the court was contrary to law.
(5.) Because the finding and judgment of the court was without evidence and against the'weight of evidence.
We may properly consider the first and second grounds of the motion as one, as both deeds objected to, according to the view taken by plaintiff in error, were inadmissible for the same reason, to-wit, because they were irrelevant. These deeds were not only offered as evidence of the title to the premises in dispute, but as color of title, to support the prescription set up by plaintiff below. We think, under this view, the deeds at least were admissible. The deed from Moses and Hull, as trustees, not only pur
The evidence showed that the Rock Island Company was in possession of the premises sued for three years prior to June, 1849, and that Moses and Hull, as trustees of that company, made a deed of the premises to R. L. Mott, who entered under it in 1855, and in 1856 he conveyed to the “ Rock Island Paper Mill Company,” and that this company remained in possession until the mill was burned, in April, 1865. Subsequently it appears that a
As to the fourth and fifth grounds of error, they are disposed of by overruling the third ground.
The plaintiff sued to recover, relying on his title by prescription, and we think the action is fully sustained by the proof, both by a prescription of seven years under color of title and also the twenty years’ adverse possession under the statute. Whatever may, therefore, have been the merits of the defence, as appears from the record, under the evidence, we cannot see how it can avail as against the title of the plaintiff, accruing from the lapse of time that has run in his favor. There is no evidence of abandonment of the property that would bar the plaintiff ’s right to recover upon his prescription. The property was not habitable, or fit for use except for manufacturing purposes, and we are not inclined to think the mere omission to rebuild either the buildings destroyed or use
Let the judgment of the court below be affirmed.