Opinion ID: 2193035
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Continued Vitality of the Nullum Tempus Doctrine

Text: [¶ 13] We next address the court's conclusion that the public could not obtain a prescriptive easement after the Water District obtained the adjacent land. The Town argues that the court erroneously expanded the nullum tempus doctrine to protect a quasi-municipal special purpose district from a public prescriptive easement. As a municipality itself, the Town argues that public policy favors its claim that the public has obtained a prescriptive easement over the land. [¶ 14] Whether the nullum tempus doctrine shields the Water District from the assertion of a prescriptive easement is a question of law. Cf. Sandmaier v. Tahoe Dev. Group, Inc., 2005 ME 126, ¶¶ 7-8, 887 A.2d 517, 518-19 (discussing the legal vitality of the nullum tempus doctrine). We review questions of law de novo. See Graves v. S.E. Downey Registered Land Surveyor, P.A., 2005 ME 116, ¶ 9, 885 A.2d 779, 781. [¶ 15] The common law rule that time does not run against the king ( nullum tempus occurit regi ) is a broad common law doctrine that arises from the doctrine of sovereign immunity. See City of Colorado Springs v. Timberlane Assocs., 824 P.2d 776, 777-78 (Colo.1992). Two important common law doctrines arise from the nullum tempus doctrine: (1) the exception of the sovereign from statutes of limitations, [3] State v. Crommett, 151 Me. 188, 193, 116 A.2d 614, 616-17 (1955); Inhabitants of Topsham v. Blondell, 82 Me. 152, 154, 19 A. 93, 94 (1889); and (2) the rule that property interests may not be obtained from a governmental entity by adverse possession, Sandmaier, 2005 ME 126, ¶ 7, 887 A.2d at 518-19; see also Inhabitants of Charlotte v. Pembroke Iron Works, 82 Me. 391, 396, 19 A. 902, 904 (1890). [¶ 16] We abolished a related doctrine, the common law doctrine of governmental immunity from tort claims, in 1976. Davies v. City of Bath, 364 A.2d 1269, 1272-73 (Me.1976). Shortly thereafter, the Legislature enacted the Maine Tort Claims Act, 14 M.R.S. §§ 8101-8118 (2005), to provide statute-based immunity from tort claims for governmental entities subject to limited exceptions. P.L.1977, ch. 2, § 2 (effective Jan. 31, 1977); see Darling v. Augusta Mental Health Inst., 535 A.2d 421, 424 (Me.1987). With this change, the Legislature became vested with the authority of the sovereign to consent to be sued in tort. See id. [¶ 17] Notwithstanding the demise of common law governmental tort immunity, recently we reaffirmed the related, but distinct, common law rule that a party cannot assert a claim of title by adverse possession or prescriptive easement against a governmental entity. Sandmaier, 2005 ME 126, ¶¶ 7, 8, 887 A.2d at 518-19; see also Loavenbruck v. Rohrbach, 2002 ME 73, ¶ 12, 795 A.2d 90, 93 (stating that a party may not assert a claim of adverse possession against a municipality absent statutory authorization); Town of Sedgwick v. Butler, 1998 ME 280, ¶ 6, 722 A.2d 357, 358 (holding that town property cannot be adversely possessed). The assertion of a prescriptive easement against a municipality is prohibited in great part because the acts of possession that establish prescriptive easements are generally even less obvious than those that establish adverse possession and it would be difficult to monitor publicly held lands, many of which are extensive, to interrupt adverse uses. Sandmaier, 2005 ME 126, ¶ 8, 887 A.2d at 519. [¶ 18] Accordingly, we decline to alter centuries-old property law related to possession of land by the government. The Legislature has taken no action to abrogate the principle, nor is there strong public policy supporting such action, in contrast to the changes in tort immunities. As we said in Sandmaier, [u]ntil there is legislative authorization to the contrary, id. ¶ 9, 887 A.2d at 519, we will continue to apply the common law rule that a claim of adverse possession or prescriptive easement cannot be asserted against land held by the government.