Carr

Ejectment. The plaintiff claims through a United States patent issued to the Central Pacific Railroad Company, as successor in interest of the Western Pacific Railroad Company, under the act of July 1, 1862, and the amendatory acts. The defendant was in possession at the commencement of the action, claiming that the land was public land, and that he had complied with the pre-emption laws. .The court below gave judgment for the defendant, and the plaintiff appeals. Inasmuch as the plaintiff relies solely upon a paper title, he must recover upon the strength of that title. It is therefore immaterial whether the defendant’s pre-emption proceedings were regular or not. The question is as to the validity of the patent.

Upon the former appeal, the judgment was reversed, because the court below rejected evidence to the effect that, at the time the grant from Congress to the company took effect, the land was within the limits of a Mexican grant then sub judiee: Carr v. Quigley, 57 Cal. 395 . The necessary result of this decision (although it is not stated in terms) is that, *825 if at said time the land was within the exterior limits of a Mexican grant then sub judice, the patent was…