Citation Numbers: 31 Cal. 177
Judges: Currey
Filed Date: 7/1/1866
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2023
Ejectment for a small tract of land situate in East Petaluma, in Sonoma County. The plaintiff produced and gave in evidence a patent issued by the State to Thomas Hopper, bearing date July 16, 1860, which purported to grant the land in controversy, with other land of which it was a part,
“Now, therefore, all the requirements of the Acts of Congress, as well as the Act of the State Legislature, in relation to swamp and overflowed lands, having been fully complied with, I, John G. Downey, Governor of the State of California, by virtue of authority in me vested, have granted, bargained,*179 sold and conveyed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Thomas Hopper, all the above described lands, with the appurtenances thereto belonging; to have and to hold unto him, the said Thomas Hopper, his heirs and assigns forever.”
From other evidence in the case, it appears that the proceedings taken and had on the part of Hopper to obtain the title to the land described in the patent under the Act of the Legislature, had their inception and completion in October, 1857, and that the consideration for the land was paid by him in that month, and that his patent was recorded in Sonoma County on the 6th of August, 1860, which was soon after it was issued. The evidence shows that Hopper complied with all the requirements of the Act of 1855, in order to obtain a title from the State to the land in question.
In 1858 an Act was passed by the Legislature entitled “An Act to provide for the sale and reclamation of swamp and overflowed lands of this State,” (Laws 1858, p. 198,) and by its last section the Act of 1855 was repealed, but as a part of the repealing section it was provided that the repeal of the Act of 1855 should in nowise disturb or affect any rights which at that time had become vested or which had accrued under the Act repealed. When the Act of 1858 was passed, and long before then, there had accrued to Hopper a vested right in the premises which he had caused to be surveyed and located; and the right to be fully invested with the title from the State had then accrued to him. His right was complete on the 12th of April, 1858, when the City of Petaluma was incorporated, and though the land was, at the date of the patent, within the incorporated limits of that city, that fact did not render the patent invalid. i
We are of the opinion the judgment was right and should be affirmed. Judgment affirmed.