Ames v. City of San Diego

Citations

• 101 Cal. 390
• 35 P. 1005
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 1046

Syllabus

<p>Pueblo Lands—Public Trust—Adverse Possession.—Land acquired from the United States by a city as successor to a former pueblo, held in trust for the general public for a specific public use, as a park, or for a street, or for public buildings, cannot be alienated, and the title of the public thereto cannot be lost by a possession adverse to the city.</p> <p>Id.—House Lots—Power of Alienation—Prescription.—In the case of pueblo lands, such as house lots, the legal title of which is vested in the city, and which may be alienated by it, the title of the city thereto may be lost by adverse possession for the period of time required to acquire a prescriptive title under the statute of limitations.</p> <p>Id.—Findings—Presumption—Support of Judgment.—Where the findings in an action to determine an adverse claim to land state facts showing a prescriptive title in the plaintiffs, and also that the land in controversy was patented by the United States to the city defendant as the pueblo lands of the defendant, “in trust for municipal purposes,” without stating that the land in controversy was held by the defendant in trust for a specified public use, it must be presumed in favor of the judgment that the land was a house lot which the pueblo was authorized to convey, and the findings are sufficient to support a judgment for the plaintiffs.</p> <p>Id.—Conflict in Findings—Liberal Construction.—Findings are to be liberally construed in support of judgment, and, if possible, are to be reconciled so as to prevent a conflict upon material points, and, unless the conflict is clear, and the findings are incapable of being harmoniously construed, a judgment will not be reversed upon the ground of the conflict in the findings.</p>