Court Opinion

ID: 9570482
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:23:41.767816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:07.488196
License: Public Domain

Weltner, Justice,
dissenting.
This case must be governed by a proper interpretation of Code Ann. § 85-402, OCGA § 44-5-161, which provides that possession, to be the foundation of prescriptive title, must be in the right of the possessor, and not of another; must not have originated in actual or positive fraud; must be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable; must be accompanied by a claim of right; and that permissive possession cannot be the foundation of a prescription until an adverse claim and actual notice to the other party.
I dissent because I believe that the evidence establishes, and the jury so found, that the conduct of Prince Carter and Joe Foreman was such as to fulfill, on behalf of Prince Carter, each and every element of prescription as set forth in the statute.
Under current interpretations of our statute and Constitution, Prince Carter was ineligible to inherit his father’s undivided interest in the tract, while Joe Foreman was eligible to inherit his mother’s undivided interest — both being born out of wedlock.
*620Being unaware of this perversity,1 the two cousins acted throughout as though each were rightful inheritor and co-tenant, and each the owner of an undivided one-half interest in the tract. Foreman acknowledged fully what he and Carter thought to be Carter’s interest; and Carter acknowledged equally what both he and Foreman thought to be but a one-half undivided interest in Foreman. At no time did Foreman dispute Carter’s claim, and, at no time did Carter act in any way contrary to the supposition that Foreman was the owner of but an undivided one-half interest.
It is true that Carter at no time sought a total ouster of Foreman. Instead, both cousins listed the property for sale; both sold off timber and divided the proceeds equally; and both held themselves out to all the world and to each other as co-tenants, and as owners of an undivided one-half interest.
It is well established by statute that “[t]here may be no adverse possession against a co-tenant until actual ouster, or exclusive possession after demand, or express notice of adverse possession____” Code Ann. § 85-1005; OCGA § 44-6-123. This code section cannot defeat Carter’s claim, as Carter presented through his actions and conduct “express notice of adverse possession” to an undivided half interest. Nor did he seek any interest beyond that. To the contrary, Carter fully recognized that, as co-tenant, Foreman had a right equal to his own to the enjoyment, possession, and profits from the property, together with the right to sell the same. Thus, with regard to the interest which Carter’s successor in title now claims, Carter’s possession of the tract, as a co-tenant and owner of an undivided one-half interest therein, meets each of the statutory requirements, in that it was for the requisite period of time in his own “right” as a lineal descendant of an undisputed co-tenant; it did not originate in actual fraud; it was “public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable”; and it was “accompanied by a claim of right,” specifically his mistakenly perceived right to inherit from his natural father.
I would further observe that ouster, the absence of which is relied upon by the majority, cannot be the ultimate fact in this case, as ouster is nothing more than one of a number of circumstances which may become evidence of the adversity of possession. Code Ann. § 85-1005; OCGA § 44-6-123. The inquiry is, then, whether or not there was adversity (as here there plainly was), and not whether that *621adversity took the form of a given specie.
I am authorized to state that Justice Smith joins in this dissent.

 The writer considers this grossly unfair. See my dissent in which Justice Smith joined in Poulos v. McMahan, 250 Ga. 354 (297 SE2d 451) (1982).