Sellers

In this action the plaintiff sued the defendants for the sum of $6,250, alleged to be due as a commission upon the sale of a large ranch in Contra Costa County, the complaint alleging that said sale was made through the efforts of the plaintiff under the contract hereafter set out. The land was the property of the defendant Solway Land Company, and was being managed and handled by the defendants Balfour, Guthrie & Co., a copartnership, consisting of a number of individuals, some of whom are named as defendants, and upon the sale referred to the co-partnership received a commission of two and one half per cent upon its sale price of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, to wit, the sum of '$3,250, as compensation for the care of the ranch during a certain period and for its sale. The agency of the defendants, Balfour, Guthrie & Co., was, however, unknown to the plaintiff, and the complaint charges them as owners. At the conclusion of the evidence a motion of defendant Solway Land Company to dismiss as to it was granted, and no question is raised as to the correctness of the court’s action in this regard. Hereafter in this opinion the term “defendants” will refer only to Balfour,…