Bifalgorithm post · Property · at 74-75 (2d Thomas ed. 1998) (citing An Act for

Rationales

Rationales (Property · at 74-75 (2d Thomas ed. 1998) (citing An Act for) — "Courts and commentators generally ascribe to “four traditional justifications or cl…

Ideas in this flowchart

  • Traditional justifications for transferring title through adverse possession
  • The entitlement is transferred after the statute of limitations runs
  • Four traditional justification clusters support adverse possession
  • The passage of time may result in lost evidence
  • Adverse possession quiets titles
  • Adverse possession discourages owners from sleeping on their rights
  • Adverse possessors and interested third persons develop reliance interests
  • Society has determined that property should be used according to its nature and purpose
  • Using and preserving property for a certain length of time benefits the community
  • The beneficial use of property warrants conferring title on the user
  • Title is presented as a reward for beneficial efforts concerning the property
  • Holmes grounded societal tolerance of adverse possession in the effects of long-term use
  • Long enjoyment and use cause the property to take root in a person's being
  • Removing something deeply rooted through long use provokes resentment and defensive action
  • Merrill and Finley summarize the traditional rationales supporting adverse possession
  • Holmes's formulation is quoted as support for the long-term-use rationale
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Rationales

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"Courts and commentators generally ascribe to “four traditional justifications or clusters of justifications which support transferring the entitlement to the [adverse possessor] after the statute of limitations runs: the problem of lost evidence, the desirability of quieting titles, the interest in discouraging sleeping owners, and the reliance interests of [adverse possessors] and interested third persons.” Thomas W. Merrill, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Adverse Possession, 79 Nw. U.L.Rev. 1122, 1133 (1984); see also Finley v. Yuba County Water District, 99 Cal.App.3d 691, 160 Cal.Rptr. 423, 427 (1979) (summarizing the rationales supporting adverse possession). Effectively, our society has made a policy determination that “all things should be used according to their nature and purpose” and when an individual uses and preserves property “for a certain length of time, [he] has done a work beneficial to the community.” Teisen, 3 A.B.A. J. at 127. For his efforts, “his reward is the conferring upon him of the title to the thing used.” Id. Esteemed jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. went a step further than Teisen, basing our society’s tolerance of adverse possession on the ideal that “[a] thing which you have enjoyed and used as your own for a long time, whether property or an opinion, takes root in your being and cannot be torn away without your resenting the act and trying to defend yourself, however you came by it.” O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 973, 1016 (10th Cir.2004) (quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Path of the Law, 10 Harv. L.Rev. 457, 477 (1897))."

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