Wormouth

This is an action in ejectment to recover possession of certain lands described in the complaint. Judgment below went for plaintiff, and defendants appeal from the judgment and from the order denying a motion for a new trial.

Plaintiff claims title under a homestead entry made in accordance with the United States laws upon that subject (see Wormouth v. Gardner, 105 Cal149), and before the filing of the cross-complaint hereinafter mentioned he received a United States patent for the land in pursuance of his homestead entry. The principal contention of defendants for a reversal is in relation to what they call their equitable title. This title, as shown in the cross-complaint, is briefly as follows: It is averred that the land in contest here was within the exterior boundaries of a certain Mexican grant, made in 1835 to Juan Reed,of a certain tract of land called the Rancho Corte de Madera del Presidio—usually called the Reed rancho; that this grant was presented to the land commissioners and the United States district court, and was confirmed; that a United States patent to the rancho was issued to the heirs of Reed in February, 1885, and that the patent excluded the land in…