58 Kan. 763 | Kan. | 1897
This was an action of ejectment. Thomas Van Meter was at one time the owner of the land. In 1860, a judgment was recovered against him, and the land was sold for its payment. Since 1861, the land has been in the actual, open possession of the original purchaser or her grantees, either in person or by tenants. For the first eleven years this possession was by residents of Kansas; for the next ten years, by non-residents ; for the next five, by residents, and since then, by non-residents. The defendants in error claim under this sale and by virtue of these years of possession.
Thomas Van Meter died, leaving a widow, and a child that subsequently died. The widow afterwards married Peter Davis. The plaintiff in error is their daughter. She was born in 1872, and, in 1873, her mother died. Her father died in 1872, the year of her birth, without other heirs than herself. She is, therefore, the sole inheritor of the land in question, provided title did not pass out of Thomas Van Meter by the sheriff’s sale in 1860, and provided her claim thereto has not been barred by the adverse possession of the defendants in error and their grantors.
Possession of land must be maintained by resident owners, in order to the running of the Statute of Limitations. It does not run in favor of non-residents, even if in possession by'tenants or agents. Corby v. Moran, ante, p. 278 ; Morrell v. Ingle, 23 Kan. 32.
Possession was maintained by resident owners of
“Sec. 15. Civil actions can only be commenced within the periods prescribed in this article, after the cause of action shall have accrued,” etc.
“Sec. 16. Actions for the recovery of real property, or for the determination of any adverse right or interest therein, can only be brought within the periods hereinafter prescribed, after the cause of action shall have accrued, and at no time thereafter. Fourth, An action for the recovery of real property not hereinbefore provided for within fifteen years,” etc.
“Sec. 17. Any person entitled to bring an action for the recovery of real property, who may be under any legal disability when the cause of action accrues, may bring his action within two years after the disability is removed.”
It is claimed that the findings of the jury as to possession are in disregard of the evidence. We do not think so. There is ample evidence to support them. It is also claimed that the jury were misled into making these findings by erroneous instructions as to what constitutes adverse possession. We do not think so.
Holding that under the undisputed facts of the case, and the findings of the jury upon those matters which were in dispute, the action of plaintiff in error at the time of its commencement was barred by the Statute of Limitations, it is unnecessary to examine any of the other claims of error made by her. The judgment of the court below is, therefore, affirmed.