FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 1 63 



an island, but flats. Other cases bearing on this subject are cited 

 in these decisions. 



2. Adverse Possession: Many of these islands have been 

 claimed by persons and their grantors for years, under some 

 sort of occupation. The question arises, could these claimants 

 by an open and adverse possession acquire title thereto against 

 the State? 



That title by adverse possession could not be acquired at the 

 present time is a certainty, under the principle of law that title 

 by adverse possession cannot be acquired, except by statute, 

 against the sovereign, be it Crown, or National Government or 

 State — and we have no such statute. See United States vs. Bur- 

 rill, 107 Me., p. 382. 



But at an earlier date both Massachusetts and Maine had 

 statutes under which the decisions seem to hold a title by adverse 

 possession could be acquired. 



Revised Statutes of Massachusetts, 1836, C. 119, S. 12. 



Revised Statutes of Maine, 1840, Chapter 147, Sec. 12. 



Revised Statutes of Maine, 1857, Chapter 105, Sec. 11. 



Revised Statutes of Maine, 1871, Chapter 105, Sec. 11. 



Revised Statutes of Maine, 1883, Chapter 105, Sec. 11. 



The Maine statute was as follows : ''No real or mixed action 

 for the recovery of any lands shall be commenced in behalf of 

 the State unless within twenty years after the time its title shall 

 accrue." 



Decisions under these statutes, holding or assuming that a 

 title by adverse possession may be acquired against the State are : 



Nichols vs. Boston, 98 Mass., P. 42. 



Treat vs. Lord, 42 Me., P. 552. 



Hinckley vs. Haines, 69 Me., P. y6. 



Roberts vs. Richards, 84 Me., P. i. 



This statute was repealed by Chapter 368 of the Public Laws 

 of 1885, but such repeal was undoubtedly not retrospective. 



If title by adverse possession could have been acquired against 

 Massachusetts or Maine prior to 1885, the question then be- 

 comes of importance, What must the character of such posses- 

 sion have been to have been considered adverse to the State so 

 that it would ripen into title? 



The only Maine case I find in which this exact point is in- 

 volved is that of Roberts vs. Richards, reported in 84 Me., P. i. 



