Keeran v. Griffith
Keeran v. Griffith
Opinion of the Court
This case has been here twice before, and will be found reported in 27 Cal. 87, and 31 Cal. 461. The precise questions not determined on the former appeals were nearly all disposed of in the similar case of Keeran v. Allen, 33 Cal. 542, and it is unnecessary to discuss them further.
The patent from the United States to the defendant was properly admitted. The United States Government is the source of title in both parties. Whether the plaintiff or the defendant acquired the title, depends upon the question whether the lands were swamp and overflowed within the meaning of the Act of Congress of 1850, so often cited, or whether the plaintiff acquired the lands under any of the subsequent Acts referred to by him. The case of Keeran v. Allen disposes of the points made under the Acts of 1855 and 1857.
Conceding the first section of the Act of July 23d, 1866, “to quiet land titles in California,” to apply at all to lands claimed under grants from the State as swamp and overflowed, the confirmation provided for does not extend to “lands as to which an adverse pre-emption, homestead or other right has, at the date of the passage of this Act, been acquired by any settler under the laws of the United States.” It does not appear in the statement or record whether the defendant did, or did not, before or after the introduction of his patent, in connection with it, introduce testimony to show that he had acquired a “pre-emption, homestead, or other
The real contest would seem to have been as to whether the land was swamp or overflowed, within the meaning of the Act of 1850. Upon this point there was such a substantial conflict in the testimony as to bring it within the rule so often announced upon the subject, and we cannot disturb the verdict on the weight of the evidence.
The record does not disclose any exception taken to the ruling of the Court, admitting the testimony of Weaman, Lewis and Thornton. (McCartney v. Fitz Henry, 16 Cal.
The judgment must be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- JOHN N. KEERAN v. JOHN GRIFFITH
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Title to Land—Adveese Patents feoii State and United States.—Where, in an action of ejectment, plaintiff claimed under a patent from the State of California, dated January 15th, 1856, as of swamp and overflowed lands, acquired under the Act of Congress of 1850, granting the same to the State, and the defendant claimed the same land under a patent from the United States, dated September 10th, 1866 : held, first, that both patents were properly admitted in evidence on the trial of the issue of title, as being necessary links in the respective chains of proofs of the parties, but that the question as to which patent conveyed the title, depended on the further fact whether or not the lands were swamp and overflowed, within the meaning of said Act of Congress; second, that this question was properly determinable, not from the recitals of either patent or the records of either • the State or United States Land Office, but upon parol proofs as to the real character of the lands. (Keeran v. Griffith, 27 Cal. 87, and 31 Cal. 461, and Keeran v. Allen, 33 Cal. 542, affirmed.) Act of July 23d, 1866, “ to quiet Land Titles in Califoenia.”—The confirmation of titles, provided for in the first section of the Act of Congress, “to quiet land titles in California,” passed July 23d, 1866, does not extend to lands as to which an adverse pre-emption, homestead, or other right had been acquired at the date of the passage of that Act by any settler under the laws of the United States. Whether or not said section is applicable to titles to any swamp and overflowed lands, is not decided. Exceptions must be Taken in Court Below.—The Court will not consider, on appeal, rulings to which no exception was taken in the Court below.