Opinion
(April Term, 1799.)
1. The possession of part of a tract circumscribed by marked lines is a possession of the whole tract within these lines.
2. A naked possession for seven years without entry or claim will bar the right of entry of all adverse claimants; and a possession with color of title for seven years will give to the defendant in possession an absolute right against all others forever.
EJECTMENT. The land in dispute was 100 acres, part of the lands granted by an old patent to Thomas Stanton, who conveyed the said 100 acres to William Armour, who had a son, Theophilus, who had a son, William, the lessor of the plaintiff, who left this country in 1768 and settled in South Carolina, and never made any claim after going away till just before the commencement of this action. Stanton, in 1714, assigned the land, comprised in a certain plat to Guthrie, in order that he might obtain a patent for the same, but the plat was not shown to the court, and in 1716 a grant issued to Guthrie for 110 acres the (88) lines of which grant included a part of the 100 acres in dispute; and under this patent the defendants claim the whole 100 acres. They, and those under whom they claim, have possessed a part of the 100 acres in Guthrie's patent upwards of forty years; that is to say, they cleared and cultivated part of an adjoining tract, and extended a part of that clearing over a small part of the 100 acres lying within the limits of Guthrie's patent; and they proved by several old deeds for land adjoining that part of the 100 acres which was not included in Guthrie's patent, that the lines of the 100-acre tract on that side were reputed the lines of those under whom they claim.
The possession of part of a tract, circumscribed by marked lines, is a possession of the whole tract within these lines. If the defendants possessed the part mentioned in the evidence, claiming under Guthrie's patent, their possession extends to the lines of that patent and no farther; but if they possessed this part claiming as far as the lines of the 100-acre tract, then their possession extends to the whole tract. A naked possession for seven years, without entry or claim, will bar the right of entry of all adverse claimants; and a possession with color of title for seven years will give to the defendant in possession an absolute right against all others forever.
Verdict and judgment for the defendant.
NOTE. — See this case, ante, 69, and see the note to the case of Strudwick v. Shaw, 1 N.C. 35, and 2 N.C. 5. See, also, the observations of HAYWOOD, J., on this case annexed to the report of it in the first edition, but now omitted here, as they are to be found in a note to Stanly v. Turner, 5 N.C. 14, accompanied by some remarks of MURPHEY, J.
(97)