Among other things, this is what the common law principle of "Adverse Possession"[0] covers: The owner of a property has a minimal duty to enforce their claim o

Among other things, this is what the common law principle of "Adverse Possession"[0] covers: The owner of a property has a minimal duty to enforce their claim on it, otherwise the claim is forfeited. If someone showed up at your house with documents that showed that a title transfer from a century ago was invalid and they were the rightful owner of your land, you could tell them to piss off just because they hadn't tried to enforce the claim previously. Without this principle, no ownership would ever be clear because there would always be the possibility that someone could show up later on and prove they're the real owner. It basically says that, after some point, the status quo rules. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession