More v. Garcia

Citations

• 37 Cal. 432

Syllabus

<p>Land Granted by Patent.—To ascertain the boundaries of land granted in a patent, the several portions of the patent must be read and construed together.</p> <p>Boundaries of Confirmed Mexican Grant.—When the decree of the Court confirming a Mexican grant fixes its exterior boundaries by bounding them on some monument, the presumption is that the lines of the survey of the Surveyor General do not extend beyond the exterior limits fixed by the decree.</p> <p>Construing Description of Land in Deed.—Courts give effect to every part of the description of land in a deed or patent if possible, but if this cannot be done, they reject that which is repugnant to the general intent of the instrument.</p> <p>Construction of Description of Land in Patent.—If a patent for a confirmed Mexican grant of land recites the decree of confirmation and the plat and certificate of survey of the Surveyor General, giving the courses and distances, and the certificate states that the land confirmed is bounded as therein described, and the decree bounds the land on the sea shore on one side, but the calls and plat of the survey extend from the interior to the sea shore, and then extend along the sea shore in places at and below low tide to a point on the shore, and the patent grants the land described in the survey, the patent will be construed as convoying the land only to the high tide line along the shore.</p> <p>Sea Shore as Boundary.—Land bounded by the sea shore extends only to the high tide line.</p>