## Facts

- The land in dispute was part of the public domain owned by the United States, and the record did not show a federal patent or other completed federal title in either party.
- R. M. Dodge entered first and held actual, peaceable possession of the premises.
- Irvington Land Company later entered onto the same land and displaced Dodge.
- Dodge filed an ejectment action in state court to recover possession from Irvington.
- The trial court ruled for Dodge, finding that Dodge was in actual possession at the time Irvington entered and that there was no evidence Dodge had abandoned the property.
- Irvington appealed to the Supreme Court of Alabama, arguing that Dodge could not maintain ejectment without title because the United States owned the land, and arguing that the proof required a finding of abandonment.

## Issues

1. Whether a plaintiff who had prior actual, peaceable possession of land owned by the United States may maintain ejectment against a later private entrant who shows no better right to possession.
2. Whether the evidence required a finding that the plaintiff had abandoned the premises before the defendant’s entry.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the judgment for Dodge.
- As between private parties, Dodge’s prior actual, peaceable possession was a sufficient right to possession to support ejectment against Irvington’s later entry when Irvington showed no superior claim.
- The trial court’s finding that Dodge had not abandoned the property was supported by the record.

## Legal Principles

- Ejectment is a possessory action, and between private litigants the better right to present possession controls.
- Prior peaceable possession can supply a sufficient possessory right to recover in ejectment against a subsequent intruder who lacks a better right.
- The fact that the United States holds legal title to public land does not, by itself, allow a later private entrant to defeat a prior possessor’s ejectment claim; the judgment resolves only the parties’ relative rights and does not bind the United States.
- Abandonment requires proof that the possessor relinquished possession; absent such proof, possession is treated as continuing for purposes of priority against later entrants.

## Conclusion

*Dodge v. Irvington Land Co.* holds that a prior, actual, peaceable possessor of federally owned public land may recover possession in ejectment from a later private entrant who cannot show a better right, and that on the evidence presented Dodge had not abandoned his possession, so the judgment for Dodge was affirmed.


Dodge v. Irvington Land Co., 158 Ala. 91 (1908)