Williams v. City of San Pedro Etc. Co.

This is an action to quiet title to certain land in Los Angeles County. Plaintiff alleges that he is the owner and entitled to the possession of the same. The allegation of such ownership and right to possession was denied by each of defendants. Upon the trial, the only evidence of title in plaintiff offered consisted of an application by plaintiff to the surveyor-general to purchase the land from the state as tide-lands, a certificate of purchase therefor issued November 5, 1901, to plaintiff by the register of the state land-office, and evidence that since the date of such certificate the land had been assessed to plaintiff and he had paid the taxes thereon. The documents were in all respects regular on their face. The certificate stated that the land was “State Tide Land,’’ which it admittedly was. It was in effect stipulated by the parties at the time of the offer of the documents in evidence that the land was at the time of application and certificate wholly within the city of San Pedro, an incorporated city of this state. This stipulation having been made, defendants objected to the admission of the documents in evidence, upon the ground that, the land being • within an…

I concur in the judgment. I agree with my associates' that, under section 3488 of the Political Code, the surveyor-general’s certificate of sale of tide-lands situated within an incorporated city is void and that the certificate in question did not disclose its invalidity on its face and was, therefore, prima facie, valid.

I do not agree to the proposition that the defendants, under the pleadings in this case, had shown a standing or interest sufficient to give them, or either of them, -a right to introduce evidence to defeat the plaintiff’s prima facie title. The complaint did not aver that the plaintiff, or either of the defendants, was in possession. It counted upon title alone. The suit was brought under section 738 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to determine the adverse claims alleged to have been asserted by each of the defendants. None of them, in their respective answers, pleaded any adverse claim, or alleged possession of the land. They merely denied the allegations of the complaint. The action is in the nature of an action in rem. In such actions, the rule is elementary and practically universal that no party will be permitted to interpose to defeat the prima facie…