2 Whart. 123 | Pa. | 1837
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
It has to me sometimes appeared strange, that statutes of limitation should have met with such difference of construction, not only in different countries or states, but in the same country and court at different periods; and this difference has been so remarkable, that lawyers and judges too have at times spoken of them as entitled to no favour, and again as most beneficial laws; and again other lawyers and judges have said, they were to be understood and applied according to their intent and meaning, without regard to their supposed policy or impolicy. This latter has been the course of the Supreme Court of the United States, and generally of this court, though for a time it felt trammelled by some English decisions. The difference of opinion has arisen from taking such acts to have been founded on different reasons. Perhaps no one of the reasons for their enactment was the sole one. They can be supported by many reasons. They seem to me however to have their binding force from the power of the legislature: to he imperative in all cases within their letter, and inoperative, with a very few exceptions, on all cases not within their letter. One of these exceptions is, that where the adverse possession would bar a right of the plaintiff, if he once had such right, to the land itself, it could also bar a right to an easement or an appurtenance united to land—this, provided there has been a possession and use adverse to and inconsistent with such right, or appurtenance, for twenty-one years, a right of way or of water; and the like may remain dormant for a long time, and not be lost, if from the nature of the right and the contract it is apparent that it was not contemplated that the owner of such right should exercise it at an early period, and if the other party has done nothing inconsistent with the existence of such right, as in Butz v. Ihrie, (1 Rawle, 218.)
Where a right has been granted, or reserved, on a conveyance of land, and nothing to show that it was expected or intended that the right should be exercised immediately, ,but on the contrary, that it was to be at the pleasure of the party owning such right, to exercise it at such future time as might suit his interest or convenience,; it will not generally be lost by non user for twenty-one years. Nitzel v. Paschall, (3 Rawle, 82.) But if the other party does acts inconsistent with and in denial of such right, it will be otherwise; as if a
Judgment affirmed.