Holladay v. Frisbie

Citations

• 15 Cal. 630

Syllabus

<p>The proviso in the Act of March 26th, 1851, granting certain beach and water lot property in San Francisco to the city, that the city shall pay into the State treasury, within twenty days after their receipt, twenty-five per cent, of all moneys arising in any way from the sale or other disposition of the property, is not a condition, either precedent or subsequent, annexed to the grant.</p> <p>Nor does the proviso create a trust in the city in favor of the State, so far as the property itself is concerned; that is to say, the estate granted is not, by force of the proviso, held in trust partly for the benefit of the State. The interest of the city in the property is a legal estate for ninety-nine years. When the property is once sold or disposed of by the city, it is not charged with the payment of the percentage in the hands of the grantee or purchaser. That is a duty devolving on the city, with which the grantee or purchaser has no concern.</p> <p>If there be any trust created by the proviso, it is only a trust in the one-fourth of the proceeds which the city may receive, amounting only to a covenant on the part of the city, which in no wise qualifies the grant or affects the legal estate of the city in the premises.</p> <p>The beach and water lot property mentioned in the act is not devoted by the grant of the State to any specific public purposes, or made subject to the performance of any trusts by the city. The interest of the city is absolute, qualified by no conditions and subject to no specific uses. It is a leviable interest, subject to sale under execution.</p> <p>The proviso to -the act operates only as a covenant on the part of the city, that if she make any sale or other disposition of the property, and realize from such sale or other disposition any moneys, twenty-five per cent, of the same shall be paid into the State treasury. On the other hand, if the property be disposed of without the receipt of any moneys by the city, no obligation arises in f