Morris

1. Aside from the effect of the Statute of Limitations, the . verdict for the defendant cannot be supported.

The first specification of the grounds of the motion for a new trial is that “ the evidence was insufficient to justify the verdict in this: that the title to the land in controversy . vested in Henry Hancock in 1855, and since then by proper mesne conveyances vested and is now in the plaintiff in this action. There is no evidence to show that the title has ever been in the defendant.” The premises were confirmed to the city of Los Angeles by the Board of United States Land Commissioners in 1856, and the decree of confirmation became final in 1858 by the dismissal of the appeal taken by the Government to the District Court of the United States. The title of the plaintiffs is derived from the city of Los Angeles through Hancock, who received a conveyance thereof from the city in 1855.

No question is made as to the validity of the deed to Hancock, nor is it denied that the title óf the latter, derived from the city, is vested in the plaintiffs. The only title claimed by the defendant, irrespective of such title as he asserts by reason of the alleged adverse possession by…

dissenting:

The only questions discussed here which require notice relate to the Statute of Limitations. The court instructed the jury to the effect that if the plaintiff sought to avail himself of the provisions to the sixth section (the supplemental section) of the amendatory act of 1863, the burden of proof was upon him to show the facts which brought the case within the provisos. That rule was laid down in Richardson v. Williamson ( 24 Cal. 289 ), and was approved in Vassault v. Seitz ( 31 Cal. 225 ), and other cases in this Court; and the rule having been acquiesced in for more than ten years, ought not to be disturbed except for the most cogent reasons. The able argument of the plaintiff has failed to shake my confidence in the correctness of that rule.

The plaintiff presents, and argues at some length, the point that in a case of this character, nothing except a patent will set the Statute of Limitations in motion. The evidence that the claim of the city had been presented to and confirmed by the Board of Land Commissioners, and that the appeal from the decree of confirmation had been dismissed by the United States District Court, on the 2d day of February, 1858, showed,…