Rich

In this action plaintiff’s complaint prayed

for partition of several tracts of land located in the county of San Mateo, which, as the complaint alleged, were owned and held by the plaintiff and the defendant Smith as tenants in common. Defendant M. A. Rich is the wife of the plaintiff, and she and the remaining defendants were made parties to the action under an allegation that they held liens upon the property by virtue of existing mortgages jointly executed by the plaintiff and the defendant Smith upon certain separate parcels of the common property. The plaintiff’s complaint showed further that he and the defendant Smith had entered into executory contracts of purchase and sale covering specific portions of the common property, which contracts were still extant and unexecuted, and that as a consequence the other parties thereto, the defendants Nye et al., claimed some interest in the property. Incidentally the plaintiff’s complaint alleged that he, with the knowledge and consent of and at the specific instance and request of the defendant Smith, advanced and expended a sum of money aggregating $19,265.04 for the improvement of the common property, and paid out and advanced for…