Carpenter v. San Francisco Savings Union

COOPER, C.

Judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff upon an agreed statement of facts, and defendant has appealed from the judgment. The statement, so far as material here, shows the following facts: On and prior to the thirteenth day of September, 1895, one J. H. Carpenter was the owner of about eight hundred and forty-five acres of swamp land, and on said day, upon proper petition to the board of supervisors, two reclamation districts including said lands were formed under the provisions of the Political Code, sections 3447, et seq. The districts were formed without the intervention of trustees or the establishment of by-laws. (Pol. Code, secs. 3472, 3473.) On November 13, 1895, the said Carpenter presented to the board of supervisors qf the said county in which the lands were situated, in accordance with law, evidence and affidavits showing: an expenditure of more than two dollars per acre upon the works of reclamation in said districts, and each of them, in compliance with section 3476 of the Political Code. On the thirty-first day of December, 1895, the said Carpenter and plaintiff (who is his wife) made and delivered to defendant a deed of trust, which included the said lands herein referred to, as security for a large amount of money borrowed from defendant.

On September 12, 1896, in consideration of the surrender and cancellation of the promissory notes, and indebtedness for which the said deed of trust was given, the said J. H. Carpenter and the plaintiff executed and delivered to defendant an absolute deed of grant describing the premises as described in the prior deed of trust.

[518]

On the fifteenth day of July, 1897, the ¡board of supervisors of said county in which the lands were situate, upon the evidence and affidavits so furnished by said J. H. Carpenter, on the thirteenth day of November, 1895, ordered that the said evidence be approved and the facts of the expenditure of more-than two dollars per acre upon the said lands be certified to the register of the state landoffice.

On June 2, 1898, the said J. H. Carpenter sold and assigned to plaintiff his title and interest in and to the money due or to become due from the said county upon said swamp land. On July 8, 1898, the treasurer of said county paid to defendant the moneys due upon the said order of the board of supervisors upon said swamp land, which, after deducting expenses, amounted to the net sum of five hundred and six dollars and thirty cents. The plaintiff, as assignee of her husband, J. H. Carpenter, claims the said sum, and the defendant, having collected it, claims that it was and is entitled to the amount by virtue of the deeds so made to it by plaintiff and her husband. The sole-question to be determined is as to the title to the five hundred and six dollars and thirty cents so collected by defendant. The code provides that when any district susceptible of one mode of reclamation is entirely owned by parties who desire to reclaim the same, and to manage the reclamation without the intervention of trustees, that by certain proceedings a reclamation district may be formed to be operated without trustees. (Pol. Code, sec. 3472.) Sections 3476 and 3477„of the Political Code-are as follows: