Flint v. Lovdall

Citations

• 122 Cal. 551
• 55 P. 424
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 630

Syllabus

<p>Forcible Entry and Unlawful Detainer—Peaceable Possession of Defendants—Evidence—Agreement upon Boundary.—In an action for a forcible and. unlawful detainer, in which the defendants pleaded quiet and peaceable possession of the demanded premises for more than one year continuously next before the commencement of the action, where it appeared that tne plaintiff and the defendants owned adjoining farms and the controversy involved the location of a disputed boundary between them, evidence is admissible for the defendants to show that a survey locating the dispul ed line was agreed to several years before the action was brought, and that defendants then took possession of the disputed strip under that agreement, with the knowledge and consent of plaintiff, and had maintained the possession thereof until the action was brought.</p> <p>Id.—Question for Jury—Instruction.—It was proper for the jury to consider the agreement testified to, as a circumstance tending to show who was in fact in possession of the land at the time of the alleged entry; and the court might properly state the evidence in relation thereto; and instruct the jury that if they should believe from all the evidence that the defendants and not the plaintiff were in possession of the land, or were exercising acts of ownership over it inconsistent with plaintiff’s peaceable possession at the time of the alleged forcible entry, their verdict should be for the defendants.</p>