Potter

This is an action to quiet title. The plaintiff contends that the land, consisting of two lots with a dwelling-house thereon, situated in the city of Eureka, the title to which stood of record in the name of his deceased wife, Martha R. Potter, was community property and upon her death vested absolutely in him. The defendants claim under the will of the deceased wife. Judgment was entered for the defendants, from which the plaintiff appeals.

Prior to the acquisition of the lots in question, the plaintiff had entrusted the accumulation of his earnings to his wife, and had assigned, indorsed, and delivered to her two notes representing other portions of his earnings, and his wife’s savings. The lot was paid for out of this fund. The lower court found that the consideration paid for the land was the separate property of the wife, and that from the date of the conveyance in 1885, the land was her separate property. The sufficiency of these findings presents the serious question on this appeal. A solution of the controversy depends largely upon the nature of the transaction between the plaintiff-and his wife, by which, so the respondents contend, all the prior earnings of the…