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43 Cal. 191

Slattery v. Hall

California Supreme Court

Decided January 15, 1872

California Supreme Court · decided 1872-01-15

The complaint, after setting forth the death of Michael Slattery, and the appointment and qualification of the plaintiff as his administratrix, and the possession of the deceased, and of the plaintiff, as his administratrix, of a portion (some two hundred and twenty acres) of the Blucher Rancho, in Sonoma County, describing it, proceeded to allege that while said plaintiff, and a great many other settlers, possessing other portions of the rancho, were so settled, and had…

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently March 1892

3 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1872-01-15

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¶1By the Court,

Wallace, J.:

¶2The demurrer to the complaint was properly overruled; it was general—that the complaint did not state facts sufficient *196to constitute a cause of action. Under such a demurrer objection cannot be taken that the complaint is merely ambiguous. We think, too, that the nature of the trust, and the manner in which it was to be executed, sufficiently appears by the complaint.

¶3The evident purpose of the parties was, that upon contributing .a proportionate share of the purchase money expended in acquiring the outstanding title to the general tract, each of the settlers was to receive a conveyance of the premises in his possession—and while the extent of these several possessions would generally be indicated by fences marking their respective limits, it was, nevertheless, the fact of actual possession of a particular tract, with or without a fence, which would entitle the possessor to receive a deed from the trustees.

¶4Upon the question of possession involved between the plaintiff and the defendant, Sharon, the evidence was not only substantially conflicting, within the general rule, but pointedly and to an unusual degree contradictory.

¶5Judgment and order affirmed.

¶6Mr. Chief Justice Sprague did not participate in the foregoing decision.

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