Hancock

This is an action of ejectment for the recovery of the possession of a portion of the Rancho La Brea. The Court admitted in evidence the judgment roll in a.n action for the partition of that rancho, brought by Antonio J. Rocha and others against Henry Hancock and others. The plaintiffs in that action alleged *370 that they were tenants in common, with certain of the defendants, in the rancho; and Henry Hancock and certain other of the defendants alleged in their answer that they were the owners in fee of the whole of said rancho ; and the cause having been heard, the Court found that John Hancock and certain other defendants named in the findings were the owners of the whole of said rancho, and adjudged and decreed that the last named persons were the owners in fee of the whole rancho, and that they recover from the plaintiffs their costs, etc. The admission in evidence of that record presents the principal question in the case.

It is contended by the defendant that, upon its being found that certain of the defendants in that action held the title in fee to the whole rancho, it was the duty of the Court to dismiss the action; that the proof of such title in the defendants showed…