139 P. 107 | Or. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the court.
It is said in Angell, Limitations, Section 383:
“As an adverse possession, then, for the time limited by the statute, confers a right, a purchaser of real estate must not trust merely to the papers and records, but must inquire of the person whether he claims to be the owner of the premises. Publicity and notoriety of possession are sufficient to put a purchaser upon inquiry, and amounts to constructive notice. Putting a fence, for an example, around the land, or erecting buildings upon it, are constructive notice to all the*61 world. And it has been held that, to prevent the operation of the statute, a parol acknowledgment of the adverse possession by the person in possession must be such as to show that he intends to hold no longer under a claim of right; but declarations made merely with a view to compromise a dispute are not sufficient. ”
The matter shown in relation to the mortgage which Mr. Cox did not seem to consider worth foreclosing can scarcely be deemed a dispute in regard to the title or possession of the land.
In Altschul v. O’Neill, 35 Or. 202, 209 (58 Pac. 95, 97), it is said:
“It is not always possible to prove the claim of right or title by direct declaration to that effect, and the purpose of the party in holding must be gathered from his acts and demeanor while occupying. If such person uses the property as his own, that is one manner of declaring to the world, or the true owner, that he is asserting a title in hostility to the true title, and thenceforth the owner must beware. Such entry and use raises a presumption of the claim of right or title. It is not conclusive evidence, but a disputable presumption.”
In Boe v. Arnold, 54 Or. 52, 62 (102 Pac. 290, 293, 20 Ann. Cas. 533), the rule was approved that possession is not required to be adverse to all the world, but is only needful to be adverse to the true owner. In an opinion showing much painstaking research, Mr. Justice McBride said:
“Naked possession in hostility to the claim of the true owner is sufficient as a basis for recovery under this statute [citing Craig v. Cartwright, 65 Tex. 417].”