118 Cal. 100 | Cal. | 1897
This action was ejectment for certain real estate in Siskiyou county. At the trial plaintiff offered in evidence a mortgage, covering the demanded premises and other lands, to him executed by several persons of whom Gibson, originally the defendant herein, was one; also an entry in the judgment-book of
The judgment-book is part of the records of the court, and is the final repository of the determination of the court upon every cause which passes to judgment (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 688); it is, of course, a judicial record, and is competent evidence of what matters were considered and passed upon by the court (Code Civ. Proc., secs. 1904, 1905); it is indeed the most permanent memorial of those matters ordained by law to be kept. As the record offered in this instance was competent evidence of the final adjudication in the former suit, so its recitals showing acquisition of jurisdiction over the defendants therein were evidence of the facts recited; the judgment thus carried on its face evidence of its own validity (Whitney v. Daggelt, 108 Cal. 232; Howard v. McChesney, 103 Cal. 536; People v. Harrison, 84 Cal. 607); consequently, it should have been admitted as part of plaintiff’s proofs, together with the sheriff’s certificate and deed founded upon it.
We are not unmindful of the decision in Wickersham v. Johnston, 104 Cal. 407, 43 Am. St. Rep. 118, and the previous cases there followed (Harper v. Rowe, 53 Cal. 233; Mason v. Wolff, 40
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment appealed from is reversed.