Westphal

This is an action wherein there is involved the question of the ownership of a parcel of land in Fresno County. The complaint, drawn in the usual pattern of an action in ejectment and for mesne profits, alleged ownership and right to possession in the plaintiff of the real property referred to. The defendant, by way of answer, controverted the plaintiff’s allegations of ownership and right of possession, and pleaded, in bar of recovery, the statute of limitations and also by cross-complaint asserted ownership in himself of said real property by reason of his adverse possession thereof.

The plaintiff was successful at the trial and the defendant has appealed from the judgment.

The controversy now before the court is the outgrowth of marital differences and litigation between the defendant and his now deceased wife, involving the title to the same parcel of land. Arnoux was married in the year 1907 to Anna Lawrence, a widow and the mother of Agatha Lawrence, then a child of five years of age and the ward in whose behalf the present action was begun. Four years later, for a sufficient consideration, he conveyed the said property to his spouse. In March of 1913 he filed an action…