Beckman v. Waters

This is an appeal by plaintiff from an order denying his motion for a new trial. The controversy between the parties turns principally upon the effect of an instrument, in form a deed absolute, executed by the defendant Waters to plaintiff Beckman, and purporting to convey certain real estate, to wit, the island of San Miguel, containing about fourteen thousand acres of land and situated in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Santa Barbara County. On the part of the plaintiff the claim was and is that this instrument was in fact what it purported to be, while the defendants contended below, as…