Case Name: MATTHEW KELLER v. FRANCISCO RUIZ DE OCANA
Court: Supreme Court of California
Jurisdiction: California
Decision Date: 1874
Citations: 48 Cal. 638
Docket Number: No. 3,931
Parties: MATTHEW KELLER v. FRANCISCO RUIZ DE OCANA.
Judges: 
Reporter: California Reports
Volume: 48
Pages: 638–638

Head Matter:
[No. 3,931.]
MATTHEW KELLER v. FRANCISCO RUIZ DE OCANA.
Complaint in Ejectment.—In a complaint to recover possession of land, it is sufficient to aver that the plaintiff owns the same, and that the defendant is in possession adversely to the plaintiff, and withholds the same.
Appeal from the District Court, Seventeenth Judicial District, County of Los Angeles.
Ejectment to recover possession of a part of lot number eleven, block number thirty-three, in Los Angeles. The complaint averred that “the plaintiff is the owner in fee simple of all that lot situated in the county and city of Los Angeles; * * * that the defendant is in possession of said lot without license from the plaintiff, and adversely to him, and that he withholds the same from the plaintiff, to plaintiff’s damage five hundred dollars.” Then followed the usual prayer for judgment.
The defendant demurred, and the Court sustained the demurrer, because “the complaint does not-allege present right of possession.” The plaintiff declining to amend, judgment by default was rendered against him. The plaintiff appealed.
Glassell, Chapman & Smith, for the Appellant.
Stanford & Ramirez, for the Respondent.

Opinion:
By the Court, McKinstry, J.:
The demurrer to the complaint should have been overruled. (Payne v. Treadwell, 16 Cal. 242.)
Judgment and order reversed, and cause remanded.
Mr. Justice Rhodes did not express an opinion.