Powers

Powers v. Jackson

Good Law
50 Cal. 429
Supreme Court of CaliforniaJuly 1, 1875No. 4834California326 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

In case of a conveyance of land described only as being a township or subdivision of a township, the actual survey and monuments of the United States surveyor are referred to on the face of the deed, since there is and can be no “ township ” on the public lands of the United States, except such as has been thus actually surveyed and marked.

The deed from Messinger to Giddings, therefore (if the map referred to and the note on the margin thereof be incorporated in the deed), contains a sufficient description. It refers to physical objects on the surface of the earth, to *433 wit, the township or section lines as marked by the government surveyor. From these may be ascertained the point of commencement of the survey contained in the marginal note, and from this, as an initial-point, the courses and distances mentioned in the marginal note will include a tract of land.

No stakes or monuments, other than those of the government survey, are named or referred to in the conveyance from Messinger to Giddings. Stakes, by whomsoever placed, cannot therefore be used to control the courses or distances of the description in that conveyance. To permit this would be to permit the deed to be…

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