Borrets v. Turner, 1 N.C. 112, 1 Tay. 112 (1799)

April 1799 · North Carolina Superior Court

1 N.C. 112, 1 Tay. 112

Borrets versus Turner.

Possession without colour of title, does not bar an adverse claim.

THIS was an ejectment brought upon the following title. In March 1717, the lords proprietors granted a tract of land containing four hundred and forty acres, to John Werley : in November 1724, Werley conveyed one hundred acres, part thereof to Jones, and sometime thereafter the residue, being 320 acres, to his son Joshua, who died leaving two sons, Joshua and William and three daughters, Elizabeth, Louisa, and Esther. Joshua entered and died without issue ; William then entered and died without issue, and the lands were divided amongst the daughters, the hundred acres, which were conveyed to Jones, being allotted to Esther. The Werleys cleared the tract of 340 acres, and possessed it for upwards of forty years : they had extended their clearing into a part of the hundred acre tract, which they cultivated with the other within the same sence, during the whole of the said time.

Haywood, J.

It is altogether unnecessary to inquire into the defendant’s title, before the plaintiff, who claims under Esther, has shewn a good one in himself. The hundred acres in question were separated from the residue by a legal conveyance, duly made by the patentee, and the Werleys can have no title, unless they have acquired one by the possession they had of part of the tract : this would have extended to the whole tract, if accompanied with a colour of title, without which, I apprehend, a possession will not bar adverse claims ; but with a colour of title, continued for seven years, it will bar them for ever, and give to the possessor a good title and right of property.

Verdict for the Defendant.