Court Opinion

ID: 9766754
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:57:53.991474+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:25.714095
License: Public Domain

POPE, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the result. Mr. Weinacht, during that period of time over which he must assert his ten-year claim, wrote those whom he thought to be the owners for the purpose of obtaining a grass lease on the acreage in dispute. On another occasion, in a conversation about the land with the owners, he failed to disclose to them the fact that he was claiming the tract by adverse possession. These events show that the nature of his claim lacked the elements of hostility and notice which adverse possession compels.
I do not agree that grazing only in a completely enclosed tract can never support a claim of adverse possession where the tract was not enclosed by the claimant. “Mere” grazing, or “occasional” grazing, or “casual” grazing will not provide the necessary notice of the claim. However, active and total use to the limits of a pasture’s capacity and to the exclusion of all others, with a claimant’s livestock continuously present and visible, will give that notice and support a claim of adverse possession. This is particularly true in the case of land which is suitable for no other purpose.