Q: Adverse Possession,if a Dam is washed away and rebuilt is it the same Dam
A: Whether a rebuilt dam constitutes the "same" dam is probably not material to a question of adverse possession. Generally, when a person takes exclusive and open possession of or uses land that belongs to another person, without permission and under a claim of right that is adverse to the legal owner, and the possession or use continues for a certain period of time, e.g. 10 years in Arizona, the person possessing or using the land can become its legal owner. Thus, it is not the similarity of the dams that constitutes adverse possession, but whether the land upon which the dams have been built has been taken exclusively and openly, without the permission of the true owner, under a claim of right adverse to the true owner, for the requisite time period.
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