Jatunn v. O'Brien

Citations

• 89 Cal. 57
• 26 P. 635
• 1891 Cal. LEXIS 770

Syllabus

<p>Water Rights — Ditch across Government Land — Capacity — Reconstruction — Privity — Rights op Patentee — Injunction against Enlargement. — A plaintiff claiming land under patent from the United States may enjoin the defendant from enlarging a water-ditch extending across the land to its original capacity as constructed long before the plaintiff acquired title and before the defendants took possession of it, where it appears that the ditch as originally constructed had been allowed to go to ruin, and had been unused for a long time when the defendants entered upon it, without any showing of privity between them and the original owners of the ditch, and reconstructed it to a size and capacity smaller than it originally had, and that it was so used by them before and long after the acquisition of title to the land by the plaintiff.</p> <p>Tax-deed — Void Assessment — Evidence.—The recital in a tax deed of an assessment of certain property to a person named and “ unknown owners ” is void, and the deed is inadmissible in evidence to prove title.</p>