39 Cal. 233 | Cal. | 1870
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The premises in controversy are included in the “Rancho de San Antonio,” which was granted by the Spanish, and afterwards by the Mexican Government, to Luis Peralta, now deceased. That portion of said rancho which includes the demanded premises has been finally confirmed to Antonio Maria Peralta, one of the sons of said Luis; and it was admitted on the trial that the defendants have all the title of the said Antonio and of the other sons of said Luis, and ■that the plaintiff has all the title of the daughters of said Luis, except one' eighty-first part thereof. The title of the
In Stevenson v. Bennett (35 Cal. 431), in commenting on Minturn v. Brower, we say: “But as to what would be regarded as a perfect title nothing was said directly, for the reason that the question was not involved in the case.” We are still of the same opinion. The fact being admitted that Peralta held a perfect title, the Court had no authority to investigate it, and did not attempt to decide it. It simply treated it as a conceded fact.
It is further claimed, that the question has been directly adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of The United States v. Peralta (19 How. 340)—in which case the claim of the sons of Peralta for confirmation of their title to said rancho was before that Court on appeal. In delivering the opinion of the Court, Mr. Justice Grier said : “The grant by Sola of a portion of the tract, of which Peralta had been originally put in possession, is a complete grant in fee of that portion; ” and the plaintiff claims that the premises in controversy are included within that portion granted by Sola, and of which Peralta had been originally put in possession. Hence, it is insisted that this is an authoritative decision, directly on the point, that Peralta
The precise point under discussion is, whether or not the title of Peralta, as exhibited by the plaintiff, was a perfect title conveying the fee, and which invested him with absolute dominion over a specific parcel of land, without any further action on the part of the United States; or whether, at the time of the cession of California, something remained to be done by the Government which was necessary to invest Peralta with a complete legal title to the specific tract.
In every complete grant conveying a perfect title it is essential that the thing granted be sufficiently described to enable it to be identified. In grants of real estate it is not always necessary to describe it by metes and bounds, or by a reference to actual or artificial monuments, nor by courses and distances. If the tract granted have a well known name, and the boundaries of the tract known by that name are notorious and well defined, a grant of the tract by its name would, doubtless, convey the title to the whole. In like manner, a grant describing the tract by reference to the known occupation of the grantor or another—or to another instrument containing a sufficient description of the premises—would be sufficient. In short, any description will
. In applying these principles to the grant to Peralta, we will first consider the grant horn Governor Sola. In his petition for the grant, Peralta does not designate the land by any name, nor by reference to his occupation of it, nor by referring to any other document, nor even by quantity. The only description is that, at the distance of eight leagues northerly or northwesterly along the coast from the Mission of San Jose, there is a creek called San Leandro; “and from this to a little hill adjoining the sea beach in the same direction, and along the coast—there may be four or five leagues, more or less, or about—which place and land he asks and solicits,” etc. If it be conceded that from this description it must be assumed, that the land was to front upon the bay from the San Leandro creek to “the little hill adjoining, the sea beach ”—and if it be further conceded that the northerly line would necessarily be a line running easterly at right angles from the “little hill,” or parallel with the general course of the San Leandro creek—we should thus have three of the boundary lines, to wit: the creek on the south, the bay on the west and a line running easterly from the “little hill” on the north. But how was the easterh line to be ascertained ? Not by quantity; because he asks for no particular quantity, unless the statement that between the
The second decree of the Governor,-by which he removed the northern line further south, and the act of possession under it, do not help the matter. By these the northern line was fixed at “a rivulet issuing from the mountain or hill range, which runs down to the beach, where is a little forest of willows (willow grove), fixing in said place the four landmarks, which shall be valid, and not those which were designated before on the little mountain of San Antonio. ” Nothing is said of the eastern line, nor of the quantity. This brings us to the “certifying document ” or vista la petición issued by Governor Sola in October, 1822, in which he describes the boundary fixed by Martinez on the north as “ about one and half leagues from the small hill of Ban Antonio, towards the part of San Leandro, serving as a dividing place, a small brook which falls from the mountains or heights running towards the beach, where ends a willow
Our conclusion is, that from each and- all of these documents there was a total uncertainty, not only as to the quantity granted, but as to the eastern boundary of the tract. Nor was this uncertainty in any degree removed by the decree of Governor Arguello, of June 30, 1823, which simply restores the northern boundary as at first fixed by Martinez, at the little hill of San Antonio, but does not attempt to establish any other boundaries, nor to define the quantity granted. It may be said that we will take judicial notice of the prominent topographical features of the country, and consequently that we must judicially know that opposite this portion of the bay the hills approach the water so nearly as to leave but a comparatively narrow strip of valley land between the bay and the foothills, and that the inference is that the Governor intended to grant to Peralta all the land lying between the northern and southern boundaries and the bay on the west and the mountains on the east. But no such inference can be drawn from the documents on which we have commented. It would be a forced and unnatural interpretation of them to hold that it was intended to grant only valley lands, or all the valley lands, Avithout reference to quantity, lying between the northern and southern boundaries. On what theory could we limit the grant to valley lands ? Why not include the foothills or the mountain sides, or the summits of the adjacent mountains ? On the face of these papers, and with the most accurate knowledge of the topography of the country, it would be wholly impossible for any Court or surveyor to locate the eastern line, or define the quantity of land granted. On the trial, Mr. Stratton, a surveyor and a Avitness for the plaintiff, was asked if he knew the San Antonio creek, the cerrito of San Antonio, and a rivulet that runs from the foot of the cerrito de San Antonio to the Sugar-
It is not necessary for us to decide whether or not such a grant would be void for uncertainty in the description. Accompanied by a long possession, acquiesced in by the Mexican authorities, it wordd doubtless be sufficient to establish an equity, which was entitled to protection under the treaty. But it was the province of the Government to define the boundaries of the tract, and to segregate the land from the public domain; in performing which duty it would find no difficulty in ascertaining the northern, southern and western boundaries; and in defining the eastern line it would be governed, doubtless, in a great measure, by the notorious occupancy and dominion of the claimant, exercised under-a claim of title, and acquiesced in for so many years by the Mexican authorities. But without this act of segregation it would have been impossible for the claimant to have known to what precise parcel of land he was entitled, or for the Government to have ascertained what particular line separated it from the public domain. It was, therefore, necessary, both to the claimant and to the Government, that this segregation should be had. .
"We do not understand the counsel to claim that the grant™ by Micheltorreno made the title perfect, if it was not so='
First—The petition of Ignacio Peralta, on behalf of his father, to the Governor, asks for “a new title” to his father; and, doubtless, remembering the vague description of the land in the grant by Sola, he seeks to remedy the difficulty by requesting that the new grant include “the range of this up to its summit, and thence to the sea.” The view is confirmed by the report of Jimeno on the petition, who acquiesces in the propriety of “granting him a new title;” but recommends that, “in fixing the boundaries to the tops of the mountains, it Avill be convenient that it be under the condition not to prevent the neighbors on the Contra Costa from cutting wood, ” etc. He, evidently, did not understand that the prior grant from Sola fixed that boundary at the tops of the mountains; othenvise, the presumption is, the same boundary would have been fixed in the new grant, without conditions.
Second—In the order or decree of the Governor, indorsed on the petition, and acceding to the grant, he requires the usual condition accompanying a grant under the colonization law, to wit: “the citation of the neighbors before the possession, ” and, he adds, ‘ ‘ in order to avoid subsequent reclamations.” What reclamations could there be if the same land had already been granted by Sola, so as to convey a perfect title? '
Third—The last document which was put in evidence, bearing date February 13, 1844, is only the usual vista la petición, and does not purport to be a final grant. It concludes with these Avords : “Let the proper warrant (voucher) be issued, enter the same in the respective book, and let this expediente be transmitted to the Excellent Departmental Assembly for their approval.”
This decree was not signed by the Governor, and it was not usual to sign such decree, inasmuch as the final, formal grant, the “título” was afterwards to issue. It has always been regarded in the Courts but as one of the intermediate steps preceding the final grant, and not as translative of the legal title. (Arguello v. United States, 18 How. 542.) This
If this be so, it cannot be doubted, and we understand' the counsel for the plaintiff in that event to concede, that the proof of final confirmation to Antonio Maria Peralta, offered by the defendants, was competent evidence, and ought to have been admitted. If admitted, it would have shown a valid, final confirmation to said Antonio Maria, and an official survey under it, including the premises in controversy ; and the title so confirmed would have vested in the confirmee for his own use, and to the use of those deriving title under him, to the exclusion of the sisters, under whom the plaintiff claims. (Estrada v. Murphy, 19 Cal. 248; Rico v. Spence, 21 Cal. 504.)
This view of the case renders it unnecessary for us to decide the other questions raised on this appeal.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded for a new trial.
Wallace, J., being disqualified, did not participate in the decision of this cause.