126 Ala. 309 | Ala. | 1899
According to the undisputed evidence, Mrs. Oldham laid possession of the land in controversy from and after the death of her first husband, Carter Oldham, the ancestor of plaintiffs, and up to and beyond the time of her marriage to Wiley Bussell, under her right of quarantine -as the widow of said Carter; the premises constituting, in part at least, the residence of the family at the'time of the latter’s death. It is equally free from. controversy that Wiley Bus-sell, the grantor -of the defendant, never received any conveyance of this land, and that neither he nor the defendant had or has any title thereto unless his occupancy of the premises was of that sort which ripens into title upon the lapse of ten years under the doctrine of adverse possession. This it could not be as against these plaintiffs under the facts in this case, because it is in no way shown that they, the heirs at law of Carter Oklham, ever had any affirmative, notice that Bussell claimed the land as his own and assumed to occupy it as in his own right, or that his possession was of such hostile and notorious a character, so openly exclusive of the right of possession of his wife, the former Mrs. Carter Oldham, as to afford a basis for imputing to them knowledge of his adverse possession. There was no attempt to prove that they had actual notice of any such possession by Bussell. The proceedings in the probate court by the administrator of Carter Oldham to have the estate declared insolvent and this land sold to pay debts, wherein there was a declaration of insolvency, and an order for the sale of the land under which it was sold, the sale reported and confirmed, but no conveyance ever executed, were under statutes then of force res inter alios acta as to the heirs, and afforded no implica
The trial court properly gave the general charge for plaintiffs, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
