Showalter

The plaintiff brought this action to quiet its title as owner of all of a described quarter-section of land in Kern county. By his answer the defendant denied plaintiff’s ownership of said land. By a separate defense pleaded in his answer, the defendant claimed to be the owner of an undivided one-half interest in said parcel of land and prayed for judgment quieting his title thereto. The judgment, from which plaintiff appeals, quiets title of the parties severally, giving to each an undivided one-half of the land. Plaintiff appeals.

The defendant alleged, and the court found it to be true, that on the seventeenth day of April, 1922, which was prior to the commencement of this action, one Ella Pouch, being-then the owner of an undivided one-half interest in said real property, executed and delivered to the defendant a deed conveying to him her said half interest, which deed on the following day was duly recorded, “and that ever since said date defendant has been and now is the owner of an undivided one-half interest in and to said premises.”

In said separate defense the defendant particularly alleged that prior to July 11, 1912, H. E. Fouch was the sole owner in fee simple and in…