Hughes v. Devlin

Citations

• 23 Cal. 501

Syllabus

<p>Pebsons claiming and in the possession of mining claims upon the public lands of the United States, are as between themselves, and all other persons except the United States, owners of the same, having a vested right of property-founded on their possession and appropriation of the land containing the mine.</p> <p>When a mining claim upon the public lands is claimed and possessed by several as joint tenants, tenants in common, or as coparceners, or even as partners, such several interests or estates are in the nature of an estate of inheritance, and liable to be partitioned between the several claimants the same as other real property.</p> <p>The mere fact that a mining claim is owned and worked by several persons as partners, is no valid objection to a partition of the same between the owners, where the answer does not set up, and it is not shown, that a suit in equity is necessary to settle the accounts and adjust the business of the partnership; and all the material allegations in a complaint for partition of real property which are not denied by the answer, are deemed admitted for the purposes of the trial.</p>