Haight v. Vallet

Citations

• 89 Cal. 245
• 26 P. 897
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 805

Syllabus

<p>Instructions — Material Conflict. — Where instructions on a material point are contradictory, the judgment will be reversed.</p> <p>Id. — Forged Deed — Effect of Record. —An instruction that a forged deed is void, and conveys no right, title, or interest, “ except if duly recorded it is constructive notice of that fact,” is erroneous as to the latter clause, and is inconsistent with an instruction that “ no legal effect can be produced upon the rights of the parties by recording a forged instrument. ”</p> <p>Id. — Ejectment — Statute of Limitations.—Where the statute of limitations is pleaded by a defendant in ejectment, who claims under a deed from the plaintiffs’ ancestor which the plaintiff claims to have been forged, conflicting instructions as to the date when the statute commenced to run are grounds for reversal.</p> <p>Id.—Evidence of Forgery—Subsequent Conduct of Grantor.—In determining whether the plaintiffs’ ancestor executed and acknowledged the deed which was claimed to be forged, the jury had a right to consider the subsequent conduct of the ancestor, and whether he ever, after the date of the deed, claimed the property or its possession, or paid the taxes or street assessments, or asserted ownership over it in any manner. Id. — Handwriting — Expert Testimony. — An instruction to the effect that although the law permits, in certain cases, expert testimony, yet such testimony should be received with great caution, and that the jurors are at liberty to reject it, the same as the testimony of any other witness, if after due consideration they should deem it not well founded in fact, and that they are at liberty to use their own judgment in matters of handwriting, and are not legally compelled to follow the opinion of the experts, is not erroneous.</p>