Soto v. Kroder

Citations

• 19 Cal. 87

Syllabus

<p>A copy of a Mexican grant, taken from the United States Surveyor General's office, is not admissible in evidence without accounting for the nonproduction of the original grant, where the party offering the copy does not rely upon a certified copy of the grant, under the Act of 1857, but upon proof aliunde that the copy was correct.</p> <p>Where reliance is placed, not on the production of a certified copy of the grant under the statute of 1857, but on proof aliunde of the copy; and where the original, as a document in the custody of a public officer, cannot he taken from his office, proof of that fact must be made as preliminary to the introduction of the copy.</p> <p>Under the Act of 1857, a copy of a Mexican grant, certified by the United States Surveyor General to be a true and accurate copy of the grant on file in his office, is admissible in evidence “ with the like effect as the original,” without proof that the original could not be produced.</p> <p>Such certified copies are admissible in evidence whenever the originals, if produced, would be admissible—the object of the statute being to remove objections to the copies, on the ground that they are secondary evidence.</p> <p>Where it is proven that the signatures of the Governor and Secretary of the Department of California to a grant, at the time of its date, are genuine, then a copy duly certified under the Act of 1857 is admissible in evidence.</p> <p>The decree of the United States District Court recognizing a grant and affirming its validity, having become final by the refusal of the United States, through their counsel, to prosecute any appeal therefrom, is conclusive as to the validity of the grant upon the United States, and all parties claiming under them by title subsequent.</p> <p>It is no objection to the admission of a Mexican grant in evidence after its final confirmation, that there is no evidence that the grantee, previous to the issuance of the grant, ever presented a petition to the Govern