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37 Buff. L. Rev. 119 (1988-1989)
Adverse Possession of Personal Property, The

handle is hein.journals/buflr37 and id is 127 raw text is: The Adverse Possession of Personal Property PATTY GERSTENBLITH* T HE doctrine of adverse possession, which lay virtually dormant for many years in legal scholarship, has recently been the subject of sev- eral studies focusing primarily on the adverse possession of real property. The adverse possession of personal property, although considered in a recent article,' has not been studied at length for nearly a century.2 Yet it has as long and honored a legal tradition as the adverse possession doc- trine in the realm of real property.3 This study undertakes to present a comprehensive review of the op- eration of statutes of limitation to bar an owner's suit to recover personal property.' The most significant issue is the determination of the conduct and circumstances necessary to permit the operation of such statutes. It is suggested here that the most important element required to establish adverse possession of personal property is the good faith and reasonable reliance of the adverse possessor. The primary focus is thus on the con- duct of the possessor and not that of the owner. This focus characterizes the prevailing formulation of the doctrine, *Assistant Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law; A.B. 1971, Bryn Mawr Col- lege; Ph.D. 1977, Harvard University; J.D. 1983, Northwestern University School of Law. I wish to acknowledge the support of the DePaul University College of Law Summer Research Grant pro- gram and to thank Carol Weissenborn and Anita Bolanos for their considerable assistance in the preparation of this article. 1. Helmholz, Wrongful Possession of Chatte& Hornbook Law and Case Law, 80 Nw. U.L REv. 1221, 1233-37 (1986). 2. Ames, The Disseisin of Chattels, 3 HARv. L. REv. 23 (1889). 3. Ames, supra note 2, at 28-40. 4. Specifically excluded from the scope of this study is any independent consideration of the law governing the disposition of lost, misplaced and abandoned property. The doctrines of lost and aban- doned property and of adverse possession are basically distinct, although the two do occasionally merge, as in cases in which a conversion of lost property has occurred, see, eg., Dougherty v. Norlin, 147 Kan. 565, 78 P.2d 65 (1938); Bennett v. Meeker, 61 Mont. 307, 202 P. 203 (1921), or situations where the property was lost or misplaced while in the hands of a bailee. See, eg., Waugh v. Univer- sity of Hawaii, 63 Haw. 117, 131-37, 621 P.2d 957, 968-71 (1981). However, courts typically decide these cases by selecting only one set of principles, so the doctrines do not really overlap. The two branches of property law are universally accorded separate statutory treatment, with abandoned property's only nod in the direction of adverse possession consisting of a statute maintained by most jurisdictions which states that the expiration of the limitation period for recovery of the property does not prevent a presumption of abandonment nor does it negate the statutory duties of the finders of the property. See, eg., MONT. CODE ANN. § 70-9-307 (1987).

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