No action for the recovery of real property, or for the recovery of the possession thereof, can be maintained, unless it appear that the plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor, or grantor, was seized or possessed of the property in question, within five years before the commencement of the action.
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 318
The Time of Commencing Actions for the Recovery of Real Property
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case BERBERICH VS. BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. (2020)
Most recently applied in Drescher v. Malee (October 2022)
Enacted 1872.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.