Woodbeck & Matter v. Wilders

Citations

• 18 Cal. 131

Syllabus

<p>In trespass for driving cattle upon land, alleged in the complaint to be “in the quiet and peaceable possession ” of plaintiffs, “ claiming the same as in fee simple/' plaintiffs proved their possession and actual occupancy. Defendants then offered deeds from I. to M., and from M. to plaintiffs, and from M. to defendants, of an undivided half interest in the land, to show that plaintiffs and defendants were tenants in common, deriving title from the same source, and hence that the action did not lie. Plaintiffs objected on the ground that they relied solely on possession. Objection sustained, and deeds ruled out: Held, that the ruling was right, there having been no deraignment of title from its source, nor any proof to connect the holding of the parties with the deeds, or to show that possession was taken or claimed under them.</p> <p>Where plaintiff and defendant hold under a common source of title, it is not necessary, upon a question of title, for either to go beyond that source; but the mere production of a deed from a stranger to plaintiff, without other proof, is not sufficient to show either that such stranger had title, or that his grantee entered under or holds in subordination to the deed.</p> <p>An unexecuted verbal agreement between joint proprietors of land for the division thereof according to certain boundaries is not binding. Until executed, either party may rescind the agreement.</p> <p>In trespass for driving cattle upon plaintiff’s land, and by means thereof trampling on, consuming and destroying the grass and herbage, and tearing up, subverting and spoiling the soil: Held, that plaintiff could ask a witness: “ What would have been the injury to the land by turning in two hundred head of cattle on the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth of April, and letting them remain in six or seven days 1” and “ What would it be worth to turn in two hundred or three hundred cattle, and pasture them for six or seven days in the field spoken of V’ that the qu