London & San Francisco Bank, Ltd. v. City of Oakland

86 F. 30, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2939
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California
DecidedMarch 14, 1898
DocketNo. 12,190
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 86 F. 30 (London & San Francisco Bank, Ltd. v. City of Oakland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
London & San Francisco Bank, Ltd. v. City of Oakland, 86 F. 30, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2939 (circtndca 1898).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge.

This is a suit in equity, brought to enjoin the city of Oakland and its officers from" entering upon the land of the complainant, and from using, or attempting to use, the same as a public street, and to quiet the title of the complainant to the said land as against the defendants. Upon the filing of the bill, an order to show cause was issued, and a temporary restraining order granted. The order, upon the hearing, was continued in force by consent until [31]*31the final disposition of the suit. The defendants interposed a sworn answer, to which the complainant filed its replication. The principal facts in controversy have been stipulated between the parties. Some additional testimony was, however, introduced on behalf of the defendants. The stipulation of facts is as follows:

“That complainant was incorporated, as averred in its bill. That the map mentioned in respondents’ answer was filed and recorded by the persons from whom complainant deraigns title, and who were the owners In common of a tract of land embracing the land In controversy and the other lands shown on said map, on September 2, 1853; and that the copy attached to the answer, and marked ‘Exhibit A,’ is a full, true, and correct copy of said map. That the Rancho De San Antonio was granted by the Spanish governor of California in 1820, to one Luis Peralta, who divided it among his sons, to one of whom, Vicente Peralta, lie allotted the land bounded on the west by the Bay of San Francisco, on the south and east by the Estuary of San Antonio (designated on the Kellersberger map as ‘Bay of Contra Costa’ and ‘Bayou’-), and on the north by a line extending- from the Bay of San Francisco to said estuary, and lying north of the most northern tier of blocks shown on said Kellersberger’s map. That the claim of Vicente Peralta to said land was confirmed in 1851 by the board of commissioners appointed by act of congress to inquire into California land grants of Spanish or Mexican origin; and, on appeal to the United States district court, said confirmation was affirmed in 1855, and the supreme court of the United States, in U. S. v. Peralta, 19 How. 313, affirmed said decision, and patent accordingly has issued from the United States conveying and confirming said lands to the successors in interest of Vicente Peralta. That, at the date of filing said Kellersberger map, the owners signing the same (who have succeeded to all the rights of Vicente Peralta in all said lands so allotted to Mm) owned a tract of land embracing all tlio lands laid off in blocks by the Kellersberger map, and all the land surrounding the portion so subdivided into blocks, and extending therefrom to said exterior boundaries of the Vicente Peralta allotment. That said exterior strip or margin was not partitioned by said partition deed, but remained in undivided and common ownership for upward of ten years 1 hereafter, unless the court shall hold that the premises in controversy were dedicated by said map to the public as a, portion of Fallon street. That said map was made by said owners for the purpose of a partition and allotment of the blocks thereon laid down amongst themselves: and on the said 15th day of August, 1853, simultaneously with the filing of said map for record, said owners made partition of said blocks, allotting the same amongst themselves by the numbers and designations of the various blocks thereof as laid down, numbered and designated upon said map, and executed amongst themselves reciprocally a deed of partition whereby block ICC (but not the lands in controversy) was allotted and conveyed in severalty to John C. Hays and John Oaperton, two of said owners; and the title of the complainant in this suit to the land in controversy is derived from said tenants in common by conveyances executed by them subsequently to said partition deed. The title to said bioek 166 is vested in other persons, not parties to this action, who hold the same under conveyances executed by said Hays and Oaperton. That, after said partition was made, the respective parties thereto sold and conveyed the lands in their respective allotments to various persons, and from time to time describing the parcels in the conveyances executed by them by the numbers and descriptions thereof as shown upon said map, and referring to said map by its title of ‘Kellersberger’s Map of Oakland’ for particularity of description. Tnat about the year 1855, and at all times since, the land in controversy in this action was and is inclosed by substantial fence, and since 1858 it has been occupied as a residence. That the land claimed by respondents’ answer to be a portion of Fallon street adjacent to complainant's property has never been actually opened or used as a street, but that other portions of Fallon street, to wit, from Sixth street to Eighth street, inclusive, have been for many years so opened and used, by the public under the dedication made by the deed of partition and the said map. That the premises are now improved as stated in complainant’s complaint, and are of the value therein stated. That the board of-trustees of the town of Oakland, on the 27th day of August, 1858, passed and adopted an ordi[32]*32nance of which a copy is hereto annexed, marked ‘Exhibit B.’ That the streets running north and south, as laid down on said map, including Fallon street, are 80 feet wide; but the complainant does not admit the respondents’ contention that by the facts hereinbefore set forth, or by any other facts, Fallon street extends further north than Tenth street.”

The ordinance declaring the streets in the town of Oakland public highways reads as f ollows:

“The board of trustees of the town of Oakland do ordain and resolve as follows:
“Section 1. The following streets in the town of Oakland, as laid down and described on Kellersberger’s map of Oakland, are hereby declared public streets and highways, to wit: West street, Brush street, Oastro street, Grove street, Jefferson street, Olay street, Washington street, Broadway, Franklin street, Webster street, Harrison street, Allice street, Jackson street, Julia street «fe Oak street. Said streets are 80 feet wide, except Broadway, which is one hundred and ten feet wide, and all run in direct line from high-water mark to a line two hundred'feet north of the northern line of 13th street; * * .* also so much of First or Front street and so much of Fallon street as are above high-wafer mark.
“Sec. 2. It shall not be lawful for any person to fence across said streets, or to erect buildings therein, or in any way to obstruct the free passage of said streets, or of any one of them. Any violation of this ordinance shall be punished by fine of,” etc.
“Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the marshal to remove any and all obstructions placed in the streets contrary to the provisions of this ordinance, and for this purpose he may proceed without warrant or process to remove the same.
“Passed August 27th, 1853.
“[Signed] A. W. Barrell, President of Board of Trustees.
“[Signed] A. S. Hurlbutt, Glerk of the Board of Trustees.”

The map known and designated as the “Kellersberger Map of Oakland” was introduced in evidence. As stated in the stipulation of facts, it was filed and recorded on September 2, 1853, and it was testified at the hearing that it had always been considered as the official map of Oakland. It shows blocks and streets regularly laid out, the blocks being systematically numbered, and the streets properly named and designated.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 F. 30, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/london-san-francisco-bank-ltd-v-city-of-oakland-circtndca-1898.