to show a want of seizure by the sheriff. His return to the writ of execution shows that he did seize the property. The plea of prescription, however, was not withdrawn by the defendants, but was still relied on; and the judge, besides charging the jury that if Pike was in possession of the plantation for a period of five years, and purchased the same from a person authorized to sell at public auction, any informality connected with, or growing out of, the sale was prescribed, went on to charge further, that, under the terms of the decision of the Supreme Court in this case, the prescription of five years, if proved, was decisive of the controversy; operated as a bar to the plaintiffs' action, and gave toplaintiffs. It is necessary, therefore, to examine this question.
The objection made by the plaintiffs to the title conferred by the sheriff's sale is, that the plaintiff, Marie P. Evans, was not made a party to the proceedings and not served with notice, though donee of the property, and a third possessor.
The situation of the property at the time of the sale was as follows: On the 18th of February, 1859, it became subject to Eliza C. Johnson's judgment for purchase money. On the 3d of August, 1861, by virtue of an execution on this judgment, it was sold to Ackley Perkins on a credit of twelve months, and Perkins gave a twelve months' bond for the purchase money. This sale was made in pursuance of a law of