Lewis

The facts of this case are few and simple and the law involved therein is plain and well settled. The complaint in ejectment was in the usual form. The answer denied to plaintiff ownership of any part of the property or any interest therein, admitted possession by appellant, set up title by prescription, and pleaded the statute of limitations. The appeal is from the judgment in favor of plaintiff.

At the trial, without objection, contest or contradiction, the legal record title was shown to be in respondent. By mesne conveyances it was connected directly with a United States patent, embracing the land in controversy, issued December 21, 1901, to the Central Pacific Railroad Company. The only claim made by appellant in the court below was that he had acquired title by adverse possession. In this court there is an additional contention that there was an infirmity in the proof of the legal record title, inasmuch as it was not shown that the said railroad company had complied with the terms prescribed by the act of Congress as the condition upon which the land should be granted by the government. It would be singular, indeed, if a litigant were permitted to keep his lips closed in…