Galvin v. Palmer

Citations

• 113 Cal. 46
• 45 P. 172
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 742

Syllabus

<p>Action to Enforce Trust—Verdict of Jury Advisory—Direction of Verdict.—An action to enforce a trust being a case in equity, a verdict of the jury is merely advisory to the court, and it is not error for the court to direct a verdict for the defendant in such a case, even though the evidence may be conflicting.</p> <p>Military Reservation—Title of San Francisco—Act of Congress of 1870—Deed of Commissioners of Funded Debt.—The title of the city of San Francisco to lands included in ¡¡the military reservation was not originally in the city, hut upon the conquest of California vested in the United States, and such lands were reserved from acquisition by private individuals by a valid executive act, and the portion of them acquired by the city were, by act of Congress of 1870, granted to the city in trust for persons who were then in actual possession of them, by themselves or their tenants, or who had been deprived thereof by the military authorities, or by intruders or trespassers, and a conveyance from the commissioners of the funded debt in 1852 passed no title to such lands to their grantee.</p> <p>Id.—Deed from City under Act of 1870—Fraud—Statute of Limitations—Rights of Minors.—Where a deed was executed by the city to one who claimed to he in bona fide possession of presidio lands under the act of 1870, any fraud practiced upon the city in the obtaining of the deed having been committed in 1870, the grantors of plaintiffs were chargeable with knowledge of such fraud, and the cause of action, being barred as to them, is barred as to minors claiming under them.</p> <p>Id.—Presumptions Attending Deed—Performance of Official Duty— Collateral Attack by Stranger.—A deed from the city under and pursuant to the act of Congress of 1870, like a patent, is prima facie evidence that the officers performed their duty in issuing it, and that it ■ was issued to the rightful claimants, and these presumptions can he attacked only by one who connects himself with the title, and