164 FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 



Here the issue involved was whether possession of an island 

 had been of such a character that the claimant might have ac- 

 quired a title thereby against Massachusetts and Maine. 



The facts depended on by the plaintiff to constitute an adverse 

 possession were as follows : Claiming possession under color of 

 title — an invalid deed ; payment of taxes ; pasturing sheep on 

 the island ; cutting grass on parts of same ; erecting a brush 

 fence across it, and occasionally repairing same ; erecting a flag 

 staff and a short flight of steps. 



The Court in its opinion goes into a very full discussion of 

 this whole subject citing many cases on all points involved. The 

 Court held that these acts were not sufficient to disseize the State 

 of its title, saying in part : 



"The law does not undertake to specify the particular acts of 

 occupation by which alone a title by adverse possession can be 

 acquired. Every case must from sheer necessity be determined 

 by its own peculiar circumstances, for the essential particular 

 acts are as various as the nature and locality of real property, 

 the purpose for which it is adapted or to which the owner or 

 claimant may choose to apply it. 



"The doctrine of adverse possession rests upon the presumed 

 acquiescence of him against whom it is held, and such acquies- 

 cence rests upon notice express or implied, which it not to be pre- 

 sumed by the court, but may be inferred by circumstances. The 

 essential use and occupation unless expressly brought home to 

 the knowledge of the owner, must be of such unequivocal char- 

 acter as will reasonably indicate to him visiting the premises 

 during the statute period, that instead of their suggesting the 

 probable invasion of a mere occasional trespasser, they unmis- 

 takably show an asserted exclusive appropriation and ownership. 

 There must be overt acts which leave no room to inquire about 

 intention, and which amount to actual ouster. 



"All that was done upon this comparatively barren, uninhab- 

 itable rock in the sea, with no stream or spring of fresh water 

 thereon, was to take a little hay, feed down the grass, which had 

 caught in the spots of shallow soil and among the bushes, and 

 throw up the short fence mentioned. Nothing of any value was 

 ever put upon it except the temporary fence, flagstaff and short 

 flight of steps erected by the Fremonts. 



