17. The court should hold that title in fee simple is in

C is correct. The interest that the original owner conveyed to the landlord was a life estate. As such, any right the landlord (or her assigns) had in the property ended upon her death. The son, having no legal right to the owner's property after the landlord's death, collected rent on that property from the tenant for 11 years. The son's actions have earned him an ownership interest in the property through adverse possession. To obtain land through adverse possession, a party must for the length of the statutory period: (i) have actual physical possession or occupancy of the land; (ii) maintain that possession continuously and without interruption; (iii) exclude others from possession; (iv) have «hostile» possession (be there without permission); and (v) maintain «open and notorious» possession. In this case, the son held the property without permission, did so exclusively, openly and notoriously (by allowing his tenant but no other parties to physically possess that land and pay him rent), and did so without interruption for the length of the statutory period (which in this jurisdiction is 10 years).

A is incorrect. The interest that the original owner conveyed to the landlord was a life estate. As such, the original owner inherently retained a reversion in fee simple absolute. A reversion takes effect naturally (and immediately) upon the termination of the preceding estate (here, upon the death of the landlord). At that instant, the continued exercise of ownership over the land by the landlord's son was hostile to the owner's reversion in fee simple absolute. The son's collection of rent from the tenant for 11 years demonstrated the son's asserted ownership interest over the property for longer than the 10-year period for adverse possession. The son's open and notorious, hostile, physical occupancy of the land (through the tenant) continuously and without interruption, while excluding others from possession for the statutory period perfects son's interest in fee simple absolute by adverse possession.

B is incorrect. A life tenant has full rights to present possession of the estate in land. The life tenant might alienate or otherwise encumber the land. The key consideration, however, is that the life tenant can convey no more ownership interest than he enjoys. Here, the right to possession and enjoyment of the land is limited to the landlord's lifetime. The property automatically reverts to the original owner upon the death of the landlord. Despite this limitation, the landlord was free to lease the land for as long as he chose and tenant bore the risk that the landlord would die (and the landlord's life estate would end) before the term of the lease. Had the landlord lived for the full 15 years of the lease; the landlord's rights and tenant's subordinate rights would have prevailed against the owner's rights in reversion.

D is incorrect. The tenant continued to pay rent to the son during the 11-year period after the landlord died. Even though the son had no legal interest in the land, the tenant behaved as if his possession required the permission of the son. As between the son and the tenant, therefore, the tenant's possession was permissive. Payment of rent is also inconsistent with the tenant's argument that he was claiming to be «owner» of the land for the period of adversity with the true owner.