Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-01-17
LIST OF S U P R { M E
COURT DECISIONS

The following decisions have
been handed down by the state
supreme court:
Benjamin F. Pankey, appellee,
VS.. Antonio Ortiz, ct al, appellants;
No. 2146-Santa Fe county.
This is q suit in equity begun
May /, 1903, by the plaintiff,
Pankey, to quiet title ana to OBJ
tain an injunction against the &c
PENDANTS restraining them from
trespassing on a tract of land
known as the Cadillal, alleged to
be within the Eaton or San Cristo-
bal grant, of which the plaintiff
claims to be the owner. The COM
plant sets up that the defendants
during the year 1903 erected Il
fence upon the Cadillal tract and
are now cultivating the soil of the
said tract without permission of
the plaintiff and are preventing
the plaintiff from farming the
same; that defendants intend 10
continue cultivating the soil of said
tract and to keep the plaintiff out
Of possession of his said farming
land, and prays that defendants be
enjoined and that title be Quoted in
plaintiff. A temporary iniun3t io1
WIS issued but afterwards dis
solved upon motion Of defendants
81 pported by affidavlts. There
after a demurrer to the complaint
was filed which raises the juris-
dictional question that the COM
plant does not show that plaintiff
or anyone under whom he claimed
has ever had possession of the
lands within the CadilIal tract, but
does show that defendants are in
actual possession of the land. and
that the plaintiff is not entitled to
any equitable relief until he estab-
lished his title by an action at law.
The demurrer was overruled by the
court and the actions assigned as
error.
The defendant then filed an an
,swor alleging that the Cadillal
tract is outside the lands of the
Eaton grant, lying to the west
thereof, and ayers that the fence
mentioned in the complaint was
not erected in 1908 as stated in
complaint, but at some time in the
year 1884, shortly after the enact
ment of statute which became a
law April 2, 1884. The answer fur
Their alleges that the fence has been
kept up, maintained and repaired
down to the present timex The an
swer admits that the defendants are
engaged in cultivating the soil OF
portions of Cadillal without permist
sion of the plaintiff, and that they
intend, as they have the lawful
right to do, to continue such culti-
waiting of the land. The answer
further alleges that each of the
defendants is the owner of one OF
more pieces within the Cadillac OF
which he and his ancestors and pre-
decessors in title have had open,
notorious. exclusive, adverse pos
session, hostile to the world ever
since the year 1916, steadily ana
continuously using the same from
year to year for agricultural ana
grazing purposes, and that tneir
said adverse possession was an
actual and visible appropriation OF
land commenced and continued IN
good faith under color Of title ana
calm OF TIBHt ihSohoiN
and hostile to the claim OF any
other persons, of which facts pam.
tiff had notice and knowledge al
or before the time of his purchase
of any interest in the said Eaton
grant, and further that the cham
Of title of each defendant is differ
ent and independent from the chain
of title to the pieces Of land pc
longing to any of the other de-
PENDANTS, and that each is entitled
to separate trial by jury before
he can be lawfully dispossessed OF
his land within the Cadillal tract.
The complaint having set up a
deraignment of title through
Judgment. and decree Of the district
court Of BernaliIio county entered
on November, 1909, which adjudi-
Gated the title to the Eaton grant IN