Hubbard v. Barry

Citations

• 21 Cal. 321

Syllabus

<p>The rule that the claimant in ejectment must recover upon the strength of his own title, is in this State so far modified that a plaintiff may recover upon proof of a possession prior to that of the defendant, notwithstanding it be shown that the real title is in a stranger, with whom neither party has any connection, and this, whether such real owner be an individual or a corporation, or the Government of the United States.</p> <p>The Van Hess Ordinance was framed upon the theory, that the better right to the bounty of the city vested with the first possessor, provided his possession was actual, and had not been voluntarily abandoned, and such prior actual possessor is entitled to the benefits of the ordinance, notwithstanding an interruption of his possession by the intrusion or trespass of others.</p> <p>A Justice of the Peace of San Francisco in 1849 had no authority as such to make grants of the pueblo lands of that city, and a grant made by him is inoperative for any purpose whatever.</p>