Brannan

The facto are fully set forth in the opinion.

John A. Sutter, Jr., on the 28th day of June, 1850, sold to Samuel Brannan, S. G. Bruce, JuEus Wetzlar and James S. Graham, certain property in the city of Sacramento. Subsequently, *25 the grantees divided the property, and mutual deeds of division were executed. In July, 1855, Sutter, Jr., conveyed the whole of the property to Mesick, and plaintiff institutes this suit to cancel the last deed, as a cloud upon his title.

The first question involved is the construction of the conveyance or instrument in writing made by Sutter, Jr., to Brannan, Brace and others. It is said that it is void &r the want of certainty m the description of the premises intended to he conveyed. In the construction of deeds, as well as other instruments, the cardinal rule is to arrive, if possible, at the true intent and meaning of the parties, and, to give effect to that intention, if it can be done without violating any rule of law—and if the instrument hears upon its face evidence that it was written by a person unskilled and unacquainted with legal requirements and technicalities, a much greater latitude is indulged than when it appears to have been drawn…