Ornbaum v. His Creditors

Citations

• 61 Cal. 455
• 1882 Cal. LEXIS 642

Syllabus

<p>Homestead of Insolvent—Possession of Homestead.—Plaintiff, in a. d. 1867, filed a declaration of homestead upon one thousand one hundred acres of Government land. He at that time, and ever since, has resided on the land. He inclosed about three hundred acres of the land with a fence, and used the remaining portion for grazing. His neighbors also grazed the uninclosed portion, but at the same time recognized the land as plaintiff’s. Some time about the year 1875, other parties entered, by permission of the plaintiff, as pre-emptors upon portions of the lands embraced in the declaration of homestead, and obtained titles to their respective claims from the United States, the plaintiff being a witness at the Land Office for each of said pre-emptors, all of whom afterwards conveyed their lands to the plaintiff.</p> <p>Held: His residence within the inclosure, upon the facts found, was sufficient to make good his homestead claim to all the land described in the declaration.</p> <p>Boundary—Mountain.—A mountain or range of mountains is a definite boundary of land.</p> <p>Construction of Declaration of Homestead.—The rule of construction, ‘ ‘ Ut res valeat mayis quam pereat, ” applies to a declaration of homestead.</p> <p>Desciuftion in Declaration of Homestead.—The Act of April 28, I860, does not require a more particular description of the land in a declaration of homestead than is required in a deed of conveyance.</p> <p>Tenancy in Common—-The finding of the Court to the effect that the plaintiff’s neighbors had grazed cattle upon the uninclosed portion of the land described in the plaintiff’s declaration of homestead in common with him, they at the same time recognizing the land as the plaintiff’s, did not show a tenancy in common in the land.</p> <p>Finding—Evidence.—Evidential facts have no proper place in the findings.</p> <p>Practice—Hew Trial.—The sufficienpy or insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings of fact can not be reviewed on appeal from a ju