p. 268seventy-two feet east from the northeast corner of Jackson and Drumm streets; running thence east fifty feet; thence at a right angle north forty feet; thence west fifty feet; and thence south forty feet. The deeds under which Blanc claimed described the property as a lot beginning on the north line of Jackson street, seventy-two feet from the intersection of Jackson and Drumm streets; running east on the north line of Jackson street fifty feet; thence north on East street forty feet; thence at right angles west fifty feet; thence south parallel with Drumm street to the place of beginning. Plaintiff objected to these deeds, on the grounds that they did not describe the property claimed by Blanc, and that they were void for the uncertainty of the description.
J. P. Hoge, for Appellants.
1. The diagram “A” was a mere sketch, made in the office of the witness Potter, without authority—not an official act—and it was not competent as evidence to affect the rights of defendants.2. The map “ B,” purporting to he made by order of the State Harbor Commissioners, was improperly admitted in evidence. The Commissioners, under the statute (Stats. 1863-4, p. 144), were simply required, by an accurate plot, to show the location and lines of the streets along the water front. The evidence did not show that this map had ever been filed, or acted upon or adopted, or approved in any way by the Commissioners. The true location of the so-called red line of 1851, is a question of fact. (Cook v. Bonnet, 4 Cal. 398 .) Upon what principle can the ex parte proceedings of the plaintiffs, as represented by the Harbor Commissioners, be made evidence against the defendants? The plaintiffs themselves locate the line upon which depends their whole right as against these defendants, and by their' own act make it evidence, and conclusive evidence, as the
p. 271at the commencement of the action, and there was no evidence whatever of any superior right or title in the plaintiff. The presumptions arising from possession alone are presumptions in favor of title in the possessor. They are applicable when the State itself is the claimant. The person in possession is supposed to have acquired the title which the State once held. The only advantage conceded to the people when they are plaintiffs in ejectment is, that they may encounter and defeat the presumption arising from present occupancy, by showing that the possession has been vacant at any time within ten years, which is the period required to bar such an action by adverse possession. This is as far as the adjudged cases have ever gone.E. J. & J. H. Moore, for appellant Blanc,
contended, in addition to points similar to those made by Mr. Hoge, that the deeds to defendant Blanc were not objectionable on account of alleged uncertainty of description; that whatever ambiguity there might be, without extraneous aid, as to the initial point (whether seventy-two feet east or west from Drumm street, on the north side of Jackson), there was in every instance an entry under the several deeds upon the very lot claimed in defendant’s answer; and the lot being clearly identified as the one intended to be described, and entry taken and held under these" instruments, was, to all intents whatsoever, the one conveyed. Parol evidence, or concurrent acts, would avail to help out the description, and put the identity of the lot beyond dispute; and the deeds were, therefore, admitted, notwithstanding objection. But there were physical facts equally conclusive of the point. If the lot commenced on the north side of Jackson street, seventy-two feet east of the intersection of Jackson and Drumm streets, and thence ran easterly fifty feet, and then northerly on the line of East street, it was plain that it could only be located in one place.
p. 272Edward Tompkins, for Respondent.
1. The State owned the locus in quo, by virtue of its sovereignty, and the defendants wholly failed to connect themselves with the title thereto. The premises are wholly without the red line of the water front, as established by the Act of March 26th, 1851. The defendants averred that the premises they claimed were within that line; and hence the real issue in the case was the location of the red line of 1851. For the purpose of making out title defendants attempted to show that they had acquired it under deeds from the Board of State Land Commissioners. But to this attempt there are two answers: First, that the deeds do not profess to go beyond the red line, but, on the contrary, bound upon it; and second, the Board had no power or authority beyond that line, and the purchasers knew it. The Act under which they were appointed expressly limited them to land “within the line fixed by the Act of March 26th, 1851.” It could be claimed with equal plausibility that a power of attorney authorizing the sale of a particular piece of property only, would enable the attorney to convey everything belonging to his principal. If the Board could go one foot beyond the red line, they could convey the whole Bay of San Francisco. The several offers to prove that the State received the money for the lots sold was immaterial in itself, and doubly so, because not accompanied with any offer to show that it was received with knowledge that the Board had exceeded its powers. The offer of the map of the Land Commissioners of the property within the red line, it is not supposed would have been material to any issue in this case, even if it had been otherwise sufficiently proven. The Commissioners had no more power to affect the rights of the State outside of the red line, by making a map, than they had by giving a deed.
2. The defendants wholly failed to establish a defense
p. 273under the statute of limitations. It is not conceded that the statute of limitations has any application. That statute, we submit, applies only to land as such, held by the State under grant from the Government, or otherwise acquired, to be used and disposed of at its pleasure, and not to the rights which it holds by virtue of its sovereignty, in trust for the benefit of the whole people. It needs neither argument nor authority at this day to establish that the Legislature could not grant away the exclusive use of the entire bay to individuals, and if not the whole, they could not any part that would interfere with the general and beneficial use. Surely they cannot do by neglect what they could not by express grant. It is further insisted, that the Act of April 24th, 1853, substantially repealed the statute of limitations, if it had before applied to such cases. It rendered the occupation by the defendants illegal, and made it a misdemeanor for the defendants to collect wharfage, or to interfere with the Commissioners in the use and occupation of the property outside of the red line. The first beach and water Act made the red line the permanent line of the water front, . and required the space beyond it to be kept free from all obstructions. The second Act (Stats. 1851, p. 311) required the spaces between the wharves, outside of the red line, to be kept free from obstructions for public slips. Thus, the entry and occupation by the defendants have all been in direct violation of the statutes of the State, and for the last year have been a continuous misdemeanor, upon which no right to continue to violate the law can be founded. But if the statute applied, the defendants had the whole benefit of it, and" the jury who heard the evidence found directly against them upon the facts.
3. The defendant Blanc presents his case separately from the other defendants, and claims the benefit of alleged
p. 274errors, that affect his interests only. It will be manifest from an examination of the transcript that he had no interests to be prejudiced. On his title, as exhibited by himself, no error that the Court could have committed would have been material. It is only those that are prejudiced that can complain of errors. It is manifest that he must make out title or show an adverse possession by -himself and his grantors for over ten years. All the title or adverse possession for that length of time, which he even attempts to make out, is under a certain quitclaim deed of persons who are not shown ever to have had either title or possession, and which, in addition to other objections, is void for uncertainty of description. It calls for a lot on the north line of Jackson street, commencing seventy-two feet from the intersection of Jackson and Drumm streets. This might be east or west, and it might be seventy-two feet from the northeast or from the northwest corner. Thus, there would be four lots, either one of which would answer that call in the deed: The second line does not help it, but the third runs “ north on East street.” That, it will be remembered, is the east line of the lot, and the utmost the defendant can claim is, that his lot is thus located between East and Drumm streets, with East street for its eastern boundary. But by reference to the map it will be seen that not only the lot as thus located, but the whole of East street, also, is within the red line of 1851, and that the lot by no possibility can be a part of the demanded premises. Really, East street only extended to Jackson street, and hence the East street line is an impossible call in the deed.The Court did not err in admitting in evidence the diagram marked “A,” offered by the plaintiffs. It was offered as a diagram, and was admissible as such, in connection with,
p. 275and explanatory of, the testimony of the City and County Surveyor, and for the purpose of showing what the plaintiffs claimed to be the true position of the red line—the water front.
The Court erred in admitting in evidence the map marked Exhibit “B,” and purporting to be made by the Harbor Commissioners. It was not competent evidence of the true location of the red line, as it was not shown that it had been approved or adopted by the Harbor Commissioners.
The Court erred in refusing to admit in evidence the map made by the State Land Commissioners. The'Board, in the discharge of its duties, was authorized to find the red line, but it was not authorized to change the line, or to establish a new line in the place of that which was established by the Act of March 26th, 1851. The map was competent evidence, tending to prove the position of that line, but was not conclusive evidence on that point.
The deeds of the State Land Commissioners, offered in evidence by the defendants, were not admissible for the purpose of showing the position of the red line; but they would have been admissible for the purpose of showing title in such of the defendants as claimed through those deeds, had the Court admitted evidence tending to show—as do the maps made by the State Land Commissioners—that the red line was to the east of the lots mentioned in the deeds.
The question of the location of the red line is a question of fact. The line was established and fixed by the Act of 1851. The acts of the surveyors and of the different Boards in running the line, and making maps to show the line, do not fix the line, but those acts tend to show the position of the line as established by the Act of 1851. Those ofiicials were authorized to find, but not to fix the line, and if in running the line on the ground or in platting it, they have varied from the calls of the Act, their proceedings did not have the effect to change the line.
p. 276A number of points in the red line were mentioned in the Act, and many of them were described with the same certainty as the initial point. By drawing a line through those points which are near the premises in controversy, the position of the red line, between Jackson and Pacific streets, can be ascertained. It was unnecessary for the surveyors, who testified in the case, to have commenced their surveys at the initial point of the red line.
If the red line, as laid down by the Land Commissioners, was the red line as established by the Act of 1851, then any adoption or recognition thereof by the State, through the Legislature, or any of her officials, adds nothing to the title of the defendants, who claim under the deeds of the Land Commissioners. If, on the other hand, the line laid down by the Land Commissioners varies from the true water front line established by the Act of 1851, the alleged adoption and recognition by the State, of the acts of the Land Commissioners in that respect will not aid the defendants, unless it be shown that the Legislature and the other officials, while adopting and recognizing the acts of the Land Commissioners, knew that they had changed the red line. That fact is not shown. The estoppel in pais asserted by the defendants against the State fails for the same reasons.
The State is neither bound nor estopped by the proceedings of the Land Commissioners in selling lots outside of the water front—if they sold any east of the red line—for they were as destitute of authority to sell lands beyond that line as beyond the State lines. The Court, therefore, did not err in excluding the reports of the Land Commissioners, and other legislative documents, and the Controller’s receipt for the purchase money.
The Land Commissioners had no power to convey lands lying outside of the red line. By providing that the space adjacent to and outside of that line should be kept open for the benefit of commerce, the Legislature prohibited the sale
p. 277of lands lying to the east of that line, and along the eastern water front of the city. The deeds of the Land Commissioners, to the persons under whom certain of the defendants claim title, so far as they include lands—if any—lying east of the red line, are void.
The title derived from the Land Commissioners’ deeds may be assailed in an action of ejectment, by showing that the land purporting to he conveyed by the deeds, is beyond the limits of the lands which they were authorized to sell and convey; in other.words, by showing that the Commissioners had no authority to sell and convey the lands described in the deeds. The description of the lots mentioned in the Land Commissioners’ deeds is not given in the transcript, but we understand that the deeds purport to convey beach and water lots. Beach and water lots, at the eastern front of the city, are situated west of the red line.
If it be found that the lands in controversy are east of the red line, the defendants cannot rely on the Land Commissioners’ deeds in proof of title, because the Land Commissioners had no power to sell or convey such lands; and the defendants cannot maintain their defense to the action, unless they can show adverse possession as against the State. The lands lying to the east of the red line were covered by the waters of the bay; the State held the title for the benefit of commerce and navigation, and had provided by law, that for that purpose, they should be kept open and free from obstructions. The question whether a private person can acquire a title by adverse possession, to lands held in that manner and for that purpose, will not be discussed of decided at this time. But if adverse possession of such lands can be maintained, the verdict against the defendants, other than Blanc, will not be disturbed as contrary to the evidence relative to that issue, for the evidence is manifestly conflicting.
The defendant Blanc claims that the premises for which
p. 278he defends are within the red line, and that, whether they are within or without that line, he has shown an adverse possession for more- than ten years. He does not claim title under the State. All the deeds through which he claims, down to and including the Sheriff’s deed to McGlensy, describe the property as bounded on the south by Jackson street, and on the east by East street. If East street did not extend north of the north line of Jackson street, or if it was not so understood and recognized, East street is a false call, and must be rejected; and in that event the description of the premises would fit equally well four different parcels of land, and the deeds would be void for uncertainty. Should East street not be rejected as a false description, then the premises described in the deed would not extend to the east of the red line, and would not include any portion of the premises in controversy. The defendant Blanc, therefore, does not connect himself, by means of the deeds above mentioned, with the possession of the respective grantors named in the deeds.
Judgment reversed, and cause remanded for a new trial.
Sprague, J., concurring:
I concur in the judgment.