Freeman v. Bellegarde

Citations

• 108 Cal. 179
• 41 P. 289
• 1895 Cal. LEXIS 841

Syllabus

<p>Conveyance—Description — Physical Boundary—Central Point.—In the absence of any qualifying term, the designation in a conveyance of any physieial object or monument as a boundary implies the middle or central point of such boundary.</p> <p>Id.—Construction of Private Grant—Designation of Tidal Stream as Boundary—Thread of Stream—Presumption.—A private grant is to he interpreted in favor of the grantee; and, where the grantor in a private conveyance is the owner of the bed of a tidal stream, which is designated as a boundary of land granted or mortgaged, the conveyance or mortgage will be held to extend to the middle line or thread of the stream, and the general presumption is that the title of a purchaser or mortgagee extends as far from the shore toward the thread of the stream as the grantor owns, in both tidal and fresh waters.</p> <p>Id.—Middle Line of Creek must Prevail over Courses and Distances. Where a creek is made the boundary of the land conveyed, and the calls of the conveyance ascend the creek, the line ascending the creek follows the thread of the stream, and the courses and distances must yield to the actual line of the creek.</p> <p>Id.—Line Ascending and Crossing Creek—Crossing from Thread of Stream.—A call for a line ascending a creek, and then crossing the creek to the end of an old wall, is not inconsistent with holding that the call ascending the creek follows the thread of the stream, and the next course will be deemed to cross the creek from the thread of the stream toward the end of the wall.</p> <p>Id. — Boundary by Shore of Stream — Intersection of Ditch with Shore.-—In the absence of any qualification a grant bounded, by the shore of a river or stream, when the grantor is the owner thereof, conveys the land up to the lowest point of the shore at any time; but it is '■competent for the grantor to so designate the line on the shore which shall constitute the boundary, that there shall be no uncertainty in its location, and, where the star