Adverse possession is a way to steal another person's land, legally.  People who do that are crooks with the law behind them.  Anyone might have a claim to land through inheritance, but not be aware of it, and a neighbor might establish an historical use of your property without your knowledge, and petition the court for possession of that land and all its mineral rights.  Without active opposition, the court will award title to the usurper.  This situation nearly deprived my brothers and myself of our birthright to our grandfather's farm, and we relied on the testimony of a respected elder to counter the claim.  The property is extremely valuable, and our neighbor coveted it.  Needless to say, the heirs of Bud Zinglemann still consider my grandmother's property to be theirs, by default.

The law about adverse possession is a device planted into common law by the Devil's advocate.