Also known as: possessio pacifica per annos LX facit jus · peaceful possession for 60 years makes right · prescription · usucaption
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A maxim providing that peaceful possession for sixty years creates a legal right. The right arises when use of land meets the requirements for prescription, including continuous and uninterrupted adverse use not subordinate to the owner.
Portia Price walked daily across a path on Pierce Patterson's land for sixty years without interruption or permission. When Patterson fenced the path, Price sued to establish an easement. The court recognized her right because the use satisfied the continuous and uninterrupted requirement for the full prescriptive period.
Prosperity Investments conveyed lots in a subdivision subject to a recorded declaration imposing use restrictions. Philip Powell later challenged one restriction after buying a lot. The court enforced the servitude because the declaration met the requirements for creation in a general-plan development.
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Priscilla Parks and her predecessors used a driveway across Preston Pratt's property for over sixty years. When Pratt blocked access, Parks claimed an easement for herself and neighboring lots. The court held that the prescriptive benefit could extend to others sharing the use.
Peak Performance used a private road on Paragon Construction's land openly and continuously for the prescriptive period. When the owner tried to revoke access, the court confirmed an easement limited to the extent of the denial during the adverse use.
Phuong Pham and her predecessor used a footpath across Precision Tools' vacant lot for a combined sixty years in privity. When the company erected a barrier, Pham established the easement by adding the periods of use.
Preston Pratt's family used a shortcut across land now owned by Prosperity Investments for sixty years. After the company purchased the burdened parcel, Pratt asserted the easement. The court upheld the right because the prescriptive period had already run against the prior owner.
The use must be adverse, continuous, and uninterrupted for the full prescriptive period fixed by local law, typically sixty years. The use cannot be subordinate to the owner. Once these elements are met, the maxim recognizes a legal right equivalent to an express easement.
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Yes. The benefit may accrue to the adverse user alone or to the adverse user and others who share the use. Successive users in privity may also tack their periods to satisfy the sixty-year requirement.
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The maxim supplies one route to creation by prescription when the statutory requirements of §§ 2.9 through 2.17 are satisfied. It operates alongside creation by contract, conveyance, estoppel, implication, or necessity.
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…people of the same sex. Does it remove that issue from the political process? Of course not. It would be surprising to find a prescription regarding marriage in the Federal Constitution since, as the author of today’s opinion reminded us only two years ago (in an opinion joined by the same Justices who join him today):…