Spalding

This is an appeal from a judgment for broker’s commissions for procuring a fifty-year lease of real property.

The complaint contains two counts, the first of which is based upon an alleged oral promise to pay a specified sum for services for procuring the lease, while the second count claims compensation upon a quantum meruit. The transaction is not within the provisions of the statute of frauds, since it was neither an agreement to purchase nor sell real estate, which, in the absence of a memorandum in writing, is prohibited by section 1624 of the Civil Code and section 1973 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The complaint alleges that the respondent was a duly licensed real estate broker doing business in the city of Los Angeles; that the appellants were the owners of lot 1, block 7, of Wright’s Subdivision of lots 78, 95 and 96 of McDonald’s Tract of the city of Los Angeles; that on November 19, 1923, the appellants employed respondent to negotiate a fifty-year lease of said premises upon specific terms mentioned at $250 per month as rental for the first five years, $400 per month for the following five years and an increased rental of $100 per month for each succeeding five-year…