Healy v. Buchanan

Citations

• 34 Cal. 567

Syllabus

<p>Stale Demand—Administration.—The plaintiff was appointed administrator of the estate of P seventeen years after P.'s death, and shortly thereafter brought action against B. and others to recover possession of a lot in San Francisco, and alleged in his complaint that P. died seized and possessed of said lot; that in February, 1867, after appropriate proceedings therefor, plaintiff had been appointed administrator of the estate of P.; that by virtue of said appointment the plaintiff, on the 1st day of March, 1867, became, and from thenceforth was and still is, entitled to the possession of said lot; that whilst plaintiff was so seized and entitled to the possession, the defendants, B. and others, on the 2d day of March, 1867, wrongfully entered and expelled plaintiff therefrom, and have ever since wrongfully withheld the possession. The defendants demurred to the complaint on the ground, amongst others, that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, or to show that plaintiff is entitled to maintain the action. The demurrer was sustained and judgment passed for defendants. Held, first, that, considering the facts of the entry of defendants, without title, so late as March, 1867, and after plaintiff became administrator, as disclosed in the complaint, the cause of action declared on was not stale ; second, that there is no statute which limits the time within which letters of administration on the estates of deceased persons may be granted ; third, that in such a case no presumption of law arises that there had been a prior administration and that the estate had been closed; and fourth, that the demurrer was improperly sustained.</p>