De La Guerra v. City of Santa Barbara

Ejectment for a lot of land in the city of Santa Barbara. Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff has appealed. The land in question is a portion of the pueblo lands of Santa Barbara which were patented by the United States to the mayor and common council of the city of Santa Barbara, May 31, 1872. The plaintiff’s right of recovery depends upon the validity of a grant claimed to have been made to her predecessor November 10, 1849. The court finds in reference to this grant:

The court also found that “ said prefect grant was not made by and was not the act of, nór was it ratified or adopted as the act of the said ayuntamiento of the pueblo of Santa Barbara.” The appellant contends that this latter finding is not sustained by the evidence, and that it appeared from the evidence before the court *531 that it was the grant of the ayuntamiento and not of the prefect.

Upon the face of the grant it purports to have been made by the prefect, and in the absence of any other evidence would have been so held by the court. Although the petition of De la Guerra was addressed to the alcalde, and the secretary of the ayuntamiento under instructions therefor reported…