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23 Envtl. L. 1297 (1993)
Adverse Possession in Oregon: The Belief-in-Ownership Requirement

handle is hein.journals/envlnw23 and id is 1313 raw text is: ADVERSE POSSESSION IN OREGON: THE BELIEF-IN-OWNERSHIP REQUIREMENT By PER C. OLSON* In 1989, the Oregon legislature added a stringent belief-in-owner- ship requirement to adverse possession law. This Comment exam- ines the relevancy of an adverse claimant's belief in ownership. The intended beneficiaries of the statute are large rural landown- ers who cannot keep close watch on encroaching neighbors. How- ever, the statute will have the greatest impact on adverse claim- ants who had been in some sort of legal relationship with the true owner-an impact the legislature did not intend. Also, the belief- in-ownership requirement does not comport with the idea that ad- verse possession is designed to assure the landowner's diligence. Finally, the new requirement places too much burden on an ad- verse claimant who makes lasting investments on the property. I. INTRODUCTION Adverse possession law allows .wrongful and unpermissive possession to become title ownership through the passage of time, acts of the claimant, and inaction of the landowner. A claimant gains title because she has justifiably relied on the true owner's failure to eject her while she made obvious and lasting invest- ments. The wrongfulness of her conduct diminishes in light of the titleholder's complete failure to act. The wrongful occupant's possession must be open, notorious, hostile, continuous, exclusive, and, in Oregon, under a claim of right for ten years.1 Claim of right is the intent to possess as an owner without recognizing the record owner's rights.2 A claimant generally establishes such intent through objective acts of owner- * J.D. 1993, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. 1. Reeves v. Porta, 144 P.2d 493, 495 (Or. 1944); OR. REV. STAT. § 105.620 (1989). 2. Nedry v. Morgan, 584 P.2d 1381, 1385-86. (Or. 1978).

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