35 Mo. 251 | Mo. | 1864
delivered the opinion of the court.
The respondent being in possession of a part of section 11, in township 45, N. R. 3 W., in Warren county, the plaintiff in error holding the better title, sued in ejectment and recovered judgment for possession. The respondent thereupon instituted the present suit to recover compensation for his improvements. The petition was demurred to ; the demurrer was overruled, and judgment for the respondent ; and the defendant below has brought- the case here by writ of error.
It is provided by the 20th section of the ejectment law (R. C.-1855, p. 694), that “If a judgment or decree of dispossession shall be given in an action for the recovery of possession of premises, or in any real action, in favor of á person having a better title thereto, against a person in the possession (held by himself or his tenant) of any lands,
It appears from the petition that the respondent claimed the land on which the improvements were made under a purchase in 1840, at a sale thereof under the laws of the State, as school lands, followed by a patent from the State authorities ; and that the plaintiff in error, defendant below, acquired the better title by entry in 1855, at the proper land office, followed by a patent from the United States. The petition also set forth the length of the respondent’s possession, the kind and value of his improvements, recovery against him in the ejectment suit, and averred that the respondent entered into the possession of the land believing he had a good title thereto, and had made the improvements in good faith under the belief that he had good title.
Three objections to the petition are urged in this court by the plaintiff in error. 1. That it does not appear from the petition that the land alleged to have been sold to the respondent, was located in the 16th section, or was land selected in lieu thereof; in other words, that the petition does not show that the respondent had a valid title to the land. This objection appears to be founded in a total misconception of the reason and intention of the statute under which the action is brought. By the common law the owner recovers his land in ejectment, without being subjected to the condition of paying for improvements which may have been
We find no error in the record. Let the judgment be affirmed.