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96 Cal. 462

Baum v. Reay

California Supreme Court

Decided November 22, 1892

California Supreme Court · decided 1892-11-22

The action was brought in 1877 to recover possession of the land described in the opinion of the court. The plaintiff claimed to have succeeded by mesne conveyanees to the right of possession.of Jacob 0. Beideman, who was in possession of the lot sued for prior to his death, which occurred in 1867.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1892-11-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently October 1932

7 state decisions

3018921900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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De Haven, J.

¶1— I dissent from the judgment.

¶2Mr. Justice Harrison, being disqualified, did not participate in the foregoing decision.

¶3The following is the opinion above referred to, rendered in Department One on the 6th of February, 1892:—

The Court.

¶4This is an action of ejectment to recover a lot of land situate on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue and Turk Street, in the city and county of San Francisco. The answer denies plaintiff’s alleged ownership and right of possession of a certain portion of the lot described in the complaint, and sets up the statute of limitations. (Code Civ. Proc., secs. 318, 319.) There was a general verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and a judgment was entered thereon, from which the defendant has appealed.

¶5The basis of plaintiff’s title is the prior possession of himself and his grantors. It is claimed by appellant that the evidence is insufficient to show that either the plaintiff or any of his grantors ever had the actual possession of the land. We have carefully examined the evidence in the record, and think there is sufficient evidence to support the verdict.

¶6We do not think the court erred in excluding the inventory, or in rejecting the proffered testimony of the witness Bogers. The inventory was admissible in evidence only as memoranda to refresh the memory of the witness. It was not competent evidence to prove the facts stated in the inventory itself. The defendant was *466not injured by the rejection of the testimony, because the witness had already been permitted to testify to all be could have testified to, using the inventory as a memorandum.

¶7Exceptions were taken to some of the instructions of the court to the jury; but we think, taken as a whole, they are fair and correct.

¶8It is claimed that the court erred in charging that the plaintiff had made out a record title. It is true that the court did say that “the plaintiff has made out a record title to the land in controversy ”; but later on, when attention was called by an exception to that portion of the charge, the court said: “I do not remember my exact words. I say I have decided here, as the deeds were offered in evidence, that the record title was complete from Mr. Beideman’s time down to the plaintiff in this case. Whatever title Beideman had at the time of his death, the records show that the plaintiff has acquired whatever title Mr. Beideman had.” This latter statement was strictly correct, and must have been understood by the jury.

¶9We do not think the court erred in permitting the plaintiff to prove payment of taxes by Brum agin. The evidence was admissible to show the nature and character of the claim, and that it had not been abandoned. The instructions of the court on the subject of taxes were correct.

¶10The judgment and order are affirmed.

¶11Mr. Justice Harrison, being disqualified, did not participate in the foregoing opinion, and Mr. Justice McFarland acted in his place.

¶12Rehearing denied.

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