Lyle,

That's a good question, and I can't speak well to "then" but it may or not require a chancery suit. And my Virginia real estate law is a bit rusty on this topic, but in Missouri at least one can file a Quiet TItle for cases like this.  It really depends on how much in dispute it actually is. It can just easily end up in court. Broadly speaking I was say much of law regarding land ownership and rights of possession derive from English Common Law and probably have not changed all that much since they abolished entail and primogeniture.

Craig

On Mar 29, 2014, at 10:37 AM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:

> Today, adverse possession must be "open and notorious" for a number of years before the subject land is adjudicated in court. In researching the Town of Beverley/Westham just west of Richmond in Henrico, towards the end of its existence early in the 19th century, it appears that Thomas Taylor tried such a move against Thomas Jefferson who reminded that worthy that TJ had the original deed and was not of any mind to allow Taylor to take the property.
> 
> How long has the present system been in place? And if different in the late 18th to early 19th century, would the documents appear as deeds or in chancery suits or where?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Lyle Browning
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