Mitchell's Lessee v. Mitchell

Le Grand, C. J., pronounced the opinion of the court. This action of ejectment was instituted in Charles county court, to recover a tract of land called “Myrtle Grove;” and the questions which this court is called upon to decide, arise out of the refusal of the county court, to give the instructions asked for by the plaintiff, and the instruction which the court did give. The facts on which the court pronounced were agreed upon, and are as follows: “That the tract of land called “Myrtle Grove,” is correctly located on the plots, and as located, was possessed by Francis J. Mitchell, from 1817, to the time of his death, in 1825, and that immediately after his death, his son James D. Mitchell, as devisee under his will, entered upon and possessed said land until his death, without issue, which happened in 1837, and that immediately after his, the said ⁵¹ James 1). Mitchell’s death, his widow, Elizabeth, as devisee for life under his will, entered and possessed said land until her death in 1841, and that the plaintiff is the sole sister of the whole blood, and heir at law to the said James D. Mitchell; that the tract of land as located, was reputed and known by the name of “Myrtle Grove,” and was situated on Jvíaltawoman ntn, and that the possession of the same, from the year 1817 to 1841, was continued, peaceable, exclusive and uninterrupted, and adverse to ail persons; and that the defendant, who was a half-brother to James D. Mitchell, entered into said land at the death of Elizabeth Mitchell, declaring that it was his son’s property, and that no other brother, or representative of any other brother or sister, survived the said James D. Mitchell.

This agreement was entered into by the defendant, to raise the point raised on the prayers submitted by the plaintiff, and for no oilier purpose. The declaration was filed on the fourth day of March 1845, and the demise is laid on the first of May 1842. The defendant rested his defence on possession solely. The main question, therefore, which is presented by the record is: Do the facts agreed upon, establish such a title in the lessor of the plaintiff, as to entitle him to recover ?

The instructions asked were: First, That if the jury believed that the tract of land called “Myrtle Grove,” was held and possessed by those under whom the plaintiff claims, for more than twenty years prior to 1841, then, there is no necessity for the plaintiff to shew a patent. Second, That to entitle the plaintiff to recover, there is no necessity to shew that the lands in dispute were patented, provided, the jury find twenty years’ possession in those under whom the plaintiff claims, prior to the institution of the suit. And third, That if the jury found from the evidence, that Francis J. Mitchell possessed the land in dispute, from the year 1817, to the time of his death in 1825, and that immediately upon his death, his son and devisee, James D. Mitchell, possessed the same until his death in 1837, and that immediately after his death, that his widow, Elizabeth Mitchell, possessed the same, until her death in 1841, and ⁵² that the possessions aforesaid were continued, peaceable, exclusive and uninterrupted, and that the plaintiff is the sister of the whole blood of James D. Mitchell, and that he died without issue, leaving no brother or sister other than the plaintiff, of the whole blood, then, the plaintiff is entitled to recover. The first instruction asked, asserts the proposition, that an uninterrupted and exclusive possession by those under whom the plaintiff claims, for twenty years prior to the year 1841, dispenses with the necessity, on the part of the plaintiff, to show a patent for the land; and the second only differs from it in this, that it only requires the jury to find such possession for twenty years, prior to the institution of the suit, which was in 1845.

The third prayer asserts, substantially, the same principle, and asks the court to say to the jury, that if a portion of the facts agreed rrpon be found by them, that then, non obstante anything else, the plaintiff is entitled to recover. From the facts in the case, it appears the defendant was in possession of the locus in quo, from 1841, to the time of the institution of the suit, claiming it as the property of his son. The general principles of ejectment law in Maryland, have been settled by a long series of unvarying decisions, and cannot be disturbed by this court, however hard may be their operation in particular cases. Among these, is, that the plaintiff must recover, if at all, on the strength of his own title, and cannot do so because of the weakness of that of the defendant.

Another, is, that he must show that he has the legal title to the land, and a right of possession, and that he cannot establish such legal right in himself, without first showing the land has been granted by the State. The cases in 2 H. & J., 125 ; 11 G. & J., 358 , and 3 H. & J., 26 , are full on these points. They merely affirm what has always been the law of Maryland. But it is said, that the act of 1818, ch. 90, has effected a change in some of these doctrines, at least so far as the