424 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



of real estate are placed upon record in a Government office, 

 and without such record they are not valid as against persons 

 not parties to the conveyance, and not informed of its exist- 

 ence. 



352. Separate Property. The property owned by either 

 the husband or wife before marriage, and by gift, bequest, or 

 inheritance after marriage, belongs to each separately ; and 

 the property acquired after marriage by other means than 

 gift, bequest, or inheritance, is common property, belonging in 

 equal shares to both. The husband, however, has sole control 

 of it. The wife has no right of dower, and the husband has 

 sole control of the common property, and may sell, without 

 the consent of the wife, any of it except the homestead ; a 

 deed or mortgage for which, without her signature and seal, is 

 absolutely void. The husband cannot convey his interest un- 

 less she conveys her interest at the same time. " The wife 

 may, without the consent of her husband, convey her separate 

 property." That is the language of the Code, and it implies 

 that she can lease, repair, give valid receipts for rent, bring 

 suit for the protection of her title, and do other acts that re- 

 quire less power than does a sale. 



353. Mining Claims. All valuable mineral deposits on 

 land belonging to the United States, surveyed or unsurveyed, 

 are free and open to exploration and working without charge, 

 and also to purchase by any citizen, or any foreigner who has 

 declared his intention to become a citizen. Aliens have no 

 right to take up mining claims or to purchase laud from the 

 Government, but they can hold by valid title when they pur- 

 chase from citizens. Mining claims shall be governed by the 

 conditions prescribed in State or Territorial legislation, or if 

 there be none, then of the regulations adopted by the miners 

 of the district ; but no claim must exceed fifteen hundred feet 

 in length, whether taken up by a person or a company, nor 

 shall the width be more than three hundred feet, or less than 

 twenty-five feet on each side of any lode. 



