Peiser v. Griffin

Citations

• 125 Cal. 9
• 57 P. 690
• 1899 Cal. LEXIS 789

Syllabus

<p>Action to Enforce Trust—Amendment to Complaint—Change of Action—Transfer of Community Property by Wife—Statute of Limitations.—A complaint by a husband and child to enforce a trust against his wife, and her grantees, based upon the theory that she took the legal title as trustee for the benefit of the husband, wife and child, in equal shares, and conveyed it in violation of the trust, and that her grantee and his successor were not innocent purchasers, cannot be amended so as to change the cause of action by averring that the property held in the name of the wife was community property, of which she could not transfer the title, if such new cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations at the time of the proposed amendment.</p> <p>Id.—Limitation of Past Cause of Action—Valid Amendment of Code. The - amendment of March 3, 1893, to section 164 of the Civil Code, providing that where married women conveyed real property acquired prior to May 19, 1889, the husband shall be barred from commencing any action to show that said real property was community property from and after July 1, 1894, is a valid statute of limitations, fixing the time within which an action to avoid such a past conveyance by the wife must be brought.</p> <p>Id.—Amendment After Bar of Action—Constitutional Law.—If the statute of limitations has barred the right to commence an action to set aside a conveyance, the title of the property is regarded as vested in the possessor, irrespective of the original right, and no subsequent amendment or repeal of the limitation can constitutionally have a retroactive effect so as to disturb the title.</p> <p>Id.—Findings—Payment by Husband—Trust.—A finding in the action to' enforce the trust that the husband paid for the property held in the wife’s name is not a finding that the property was community property, and does not warrant a judgment for the bus* band if the court finds that the wife did not hold the property in trust.</p> <p>-d.—Failure of