122 Tenn. 694 | Tenn. | 1909
delivered tile opinion of tbe Court.
This is an ejectment suit brought by the complainant to recover eleven and one-half acres of land in Putnam county which he claims under a grant issued to him by the State on the 9th day of May, 1881. The defendants claim under a grant issued by the State to Celina Pish on the 24th of September, 1827, and by a regular chain of conveyances from the heirs of Celina Fisk to J. Arnold, and from the latter -to the defendants.
It is insisted by the complainant that this title was abandoned before Arnold procured deeds from the heirs of Celina Fisk. This contention is based on the fact that the evidence does not show that either Celina Fisk or her heirs ever paid any taxes on this land, or that they occupied it, and that the reason given by Mr. Arnold in his evidence for their failure to occupy it, or to: pay any special attention to it, was that it was of little value. Mr. Arnold made this statement in giving a reason why various trespasses upon the land had been permitted to go unchecked before he purchased the land himself in 1885.
The contention of the complainant is that, inasmuch as the land was allowed to go unnoticed by its owners from 1827 to 1885, when the children of Celina Fisk made deeds, it must be treated as having been abandoned. It appears, however, that the grant was regis
“An abandoned title is not transferred to an adverse claimant, or person who first seizes the land, but it falls back to the State, and by its extinction sometimes mates a younger and conflicting title good. The doctrine of abandonment does not apply to a perfect title, but only to imperfect titles. In favor of a junior warrant or settlement right after long lapse of time, an imperfect title by warrant and survey may be presumed to be abandoned. But such presumption cannot be made of a perfect title. That is never reinvested in the State on such principle. After the land has been located and patented, it will not fall back because it is a derelict, nor for the owner’s neglect to pay the taxes. Hoffman v. Bell, 61 Pa., 444.”
On the grounds above stated, we think the chancellor acted correctly in deciding that controversy in favor of the defendants and dismissing the complainant’s bill. His decree is accordingly affirmed, with costs.