22 Minn. 488 | Minn. | 1876
The improvements made by the defendant in this case having been made prior to the passage of the act of March 10,1873, the question is, did the legislature intend, and was it competent for it, to apply the provisions of that act retrospectively?
Section 1 of the act provides that “where any person, under color of title in fee, and in good faith, has peaceably taken possession of any land for which he has given a valuable consideration, or when any person has taken possession of any land under the official deed of any person or officer empowered by law, or by any court of competent jurisdiction, to sell land, and such person has no actual notice of any defects invalidating such deed, and such deed is regular upon its face, neither such person nor his heirs, representatives or assigns shall be ejected from such land, except as hereinafter provided, until compensation is tendered him -or them for all improvements which he or they may have made upon said land previous to actual notice of the claim upon which the action is founded; or, in case of possession under an official deed, previous to actual notice of defects invalidating the same.” Laws 1873, ch. 55.
It is argued that the words ‘ ‘ has peaceably taken possession, ” etc., must be held to refer to the time of the passage of the act, and so necessarily relate to those transac'tions ; but we think they refer to the time of making the improvements, and mean where any person, at the time of making the improvements, has peaceably taken possession, •etc., and there is nothing in the act which requires us to hold that it was intended to apply its provisions to improvements made before it passed. Those mentioned are such as the ■occupant “may have made previous to actual notice of the claim upon which the action is founded; or, in case of possession under an official deed, previous to actual notice of ■defects invalidating the same.” No reference is made to Improvements made before the passage of the act, nor to
Aside from this rule of construction . there is a consideration which, in the absence of express terms or necessary implication showing the contrary, would impel us to hold that the legislature did not intend to apply the act to a case of improvements made before its passage. When laws of' this class are enacted with reference to future cases they are not only useful and salutary, but strictly constitutional. We could not rest their validity, however, upon the ground suggested by some courts, that there is a “ natural equity ” in favor of one who, under the belief that he has title,, takes possession of and improves the land of another, and that such supposed natural equity may be changed by the legislature into a legal right.
The legislature may make it the duty of the owner of the land to give notice of his title to one so talcing possession, and impose upon the neglect of that duty the obliga
Prior to the passage of the act of March 10, 1873, one who, without the consent of the owner, entered upon and improved the land of another, did not thereby acquire any right to hold the land as against the owner, and no obligation of the owner to pay for the improvements was thereby created as a condition of his right to possess and enjoy his property. If that act gives to one, who had before its passage so improved the land of another, the right to hold and enjoy such land unless the owner shall pay for the unauthorized improvements, and excludes the owner from the enjoyment of his property unless he shall pay for such improvements, it deprives the latter -of his property, by mere
The order appealed from is reversed, and the finding and decision of the court below is modified by vacating that portion of it only which requires plaintiff to comply with the provisions of the act of March 10, 1873, entitled “ An act to protect tona fide occupants of real estate,” and the court below will enter judgment in accordance herewith.