Henry Baldwin

“ To give the law any other interpretation would be to establish in South Carolina the principle, that an action brought by a person having no right, title, or interest in land in the actual possession of a person claiming it for himself, would arrest the act of limitation, and prevent its running on the right of a stranger to the suit. ”

“ The utmost extent of the argument drawn from this alleged analogy in favour of the plaintiff would be, that the heirs of Ramsay brought the first suit in assertion of the title of Mr Laurens, but for the want of privity, they could not bring it to bear on the defendant in their names. It would be quite a new principle in the law of ejectment and limitation, that the intention to assert the right was equivalent to its being actually done.
It is settled law that an entry on the land by one having the right, has the same effect in arresting the progress of the limitation as a suit ”

“ This decided opinion of the highest court of South Carolina renders it unnecessary for this court to express their own opinion on this will. Thus construed, neither Mr or Mrs Ramsay ever had, and their heirs never could have, any right or estate in the premises so devised by Mr Laurens, in law or equity: no right of entry, possession, or ultimate enjoyment. They could not take the rents and profits, as the entire estate of the devisor vested in the devisee; they could therefore sustain no ejectment, which must be founded on a right of possession. ”