Opinion ID: 2615383
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prescriptive easement to trail cattle to Stansbury Island.

Text: Proof that the land was owned by the government at any time during the prescriptive period is usually a sufficient defense to a claim of right by adverse use. One may not adverse the sovereign. Lund v. Wilcox, 34 Utah 205, 97 P. 33. The prescriptive period for adverse creation of an easement in Utah is twenty years. Lunt v. Kitchens, 123 Utah 488, 260 P.2d 535. Since the land in question was owned by the federal government within the twenty years prior to the filing of defendant's counterclaim, the plaintiff has failed to establish a prescriptive easement across most of these lands. Plaintiff contends that some of these lands do not come within this rule. He urges that the rule, one may not adverse the sovereign, does not apply if the landowner or his predecessor in interest entered the land under the Homestead Law before the prescriptive period began, even though the homesteader does not receive patent until after the period began This court has held to the contrary, at least absent proof that the homesteader was entitled to patent at some time before the prescriptive period began. Lund v. Wilcox, supra. Compare Minersville Land & Livestock Co. v. Staten, 7 Utah 2d 331, 325 P.2d 260. The plaintiff offered no proof that defendant was entitled to patent before he received it. While apparently the point was not presented to the court below, the plaintiff asserts that the trail to Stansbury Island constitutes a public highway under 43 U.S.C.A. § 932. See Jeremy v. Bertagnole, 101 Utah 1, 116 P.2d 420; Boyer v. Clark, 7 Utah 2d 395, 326 P.2d 107. The evidence does not support his contention.