Edward Douglass White

“ Indeed, the opinion in the Ely Case shows that the reasoning by which it came to pass that the word 'conveyances' in the statute also embraced titles by possession perfected before the passage of the act was but an application of the familiar rule that a remedial statute, where it is reasonably possible to do so, must be interpreted so as to embrace the remedies which it was obviously intended to afford. ”

“ On the contrary, the court, after pointing out difficulties arising from what it considered to be infirmities in the proof concerning the nature and character of the possession of the alleged predecessors and their privity with the defendant, held that it was unnecessary to solve such difficulties because, under the statute, the defendant could complete the time necessary to bar the right of the Railway Company by resorting to possession enjoyed by him after the passage of the act. ”

“ And this meaning of the act is aptly illustrated by its title, since it treats its provisions as only confirming conveyances theretofore made, and not as conferring power on the Railway Company to make conveyances of its right of way for the future. ”