Court Opinion

ID: 9685180
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:25:34.513819+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:03.059386
License: Public Domain

Bashara, J.
(dissenting). I must respectfully dissent from the majority holding. My review of the facts reveals that the trial court found that defendants made an inquiry to plaintiffs predecessor in title as to the location of the boundary line. In response, defendant was told that the fence marked the boundary. Concluding that this inquiry raised sufficient doubt to invoke the doctrine of acquiescence, the trial judge held that the boundary was thereby fixed at the fence line.
Acquiescence is an ancient doctrine, existing in our jurisprudence for over one hundred years. See Smith v Hamilton, 20 Mich 433; 4 Am Rep 398 (1870). While not specifically articulated in any of the cases that we have examined, I believe the doctrine to be predicated upon a policy of maintaining community peace and harmony. Accordingly, the doctrine gives legal effect to adjoining property owners’ amicable resolutions of boundary line disputes.
Consonant with that policy, I would conclude that the doubt, dispute, or controversy necessary to invoke the doctrine must arise from the landowners’ competing contentions as to the location of the boundary line. More recent cases support that conclusion. See e.g., Rickheim v Boden, 369 Mich 150; 119 NW2d 620 (1963), Hanlon v Ten Hove, 235 Mich 227, 230; 209 NW 169 (1926), Sheldon v *273Michigan Central R Co, 161 Mich 503; 126 NW 1056 (1910).
In the case under review, only defendants appeared to be in doubt as to the boundary. Upon inquiry, they readily accepted the location designated by plaintiffs predecessor in title. These circumstances are not characteristic of the controversy requisite to invocation of the doctrine of acquiescence. Consequently, the trial court’s judgment does not rest upon the proper legal principle, and plaintiff should have prevailed in his cause of action.
Our land conveyancing laws are founded upon the important public policy of maintaining stability and certainty in titles to realty. Acquiescence is an exception to those laws and is of questionable vitality in an age when the means of accurately determining boundary locations are readily available to those with an interest in real property. Accordingly, if that doctrine is to remain in our jurisprudence, it should be strictly construed in deference to the policy of our conveyancing laws. The majority’s resolution of this case appears to be inimical to that policy.
I would reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand this case with directions to enter judgment for plaintiff.