244 Pa. 48 | Pa. | 1914
Opinion by
The subject of the present dispute is an improved lot of ground in the City of Pittsburgh, part of a larger lot which Henry Johns, Sr., through whom both parties to the controversy claim, acquired by purchase in 1859. By his last will Henry Johns, Sr., devised his entire estate to his widow Sarah Johns, the original plaintiff in the present action. The defendant is Henry Johns, Jr.,
The question next to be answered is whether any adverse and hostile possession was shown sufficient to defeat plaintiff’s right to recovery. The original entry not having been shown to be adverse, when, if ever, did adverse possession begin? When the possession of one person is shown to have been once in subordination to the title of another, it will not be adjudicated after-wards adverse without clear and positive proof of its having distinctly become so; for every presumption is in favor of the possession continuing in the same subordination to the title. Rung v. Shoneberger, 2 Watts 23. The proof must reach so far as to show that the adverse possession assumed was brought to the knowledge of the holder of the title. The position taken by such an one requires express notice of the change in the previous character of the tenure before the statute shall begin to run. “This may be considered the general doctrine derived from the cases and principles cited. But then what is express notice? The literal meaning of the term is, plain and clear notice; and is certainly no more than actual notice. We think therefore, that the charge of the court below, on the subject, is substantially correct. The learned judge, who delivered it, very properly said, the statute would not begin to run, until the possession became adverse by some decisive acts or declarations, showing the same to have become hostile, and, ‘done or made in such a manner, and under such circumstances, as to leave no doubt in the mind of the jury, that they were brought home to the knowledge of John M. Hood, or his agent, if he had any.’ ” Hood v. Hood, 2 Grant 229. To the same effect is the ruling in Martin v. Jackson, 27 Pa. 504. In brief, the rule requires that the specific acts or declarations relied upon as showing a change from the original tenure must be the equivalent of an actual ouster. Since the statute will only begin to run from the date when such specific acts or declara