No action can be brought for or in respect to real property by any person claiming under letters patent or grants from this State, unless the same might have been commenced by the people as herein specified, in case such patent had not been issued or grant made.
§ 316.Person Claiming Under Letters Patent Or Grants From State
Title 2. Of the Time of Commencing Civil Actions · Chapter 2. The Time of Commencing Actions for the Recovery of Real Property · Enacted 1872 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 316 bars a lawsuit over real property by anyone claiming under a state-issued letters patent or grant unless the People of California could have brought that same action themselves under Section 315 had the patent or grant never been issued.
Full Text of § 316
Plain-English Summary
Section 316 extends the limitation in § 315 to private claimants. A person who traces title to a letters patent or grant from the state cannot sue over the property if the state's own right to sue, measured under § 315, would already be barred, as though the patent or grant had never issued.
In effect, a patentee or grantee steps into the state's shoes for purposes of this ten-year measure. The private claimant gets no longer a window to sue than the state itself would have had.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone who holds a state land patent sue over the property at any time?
No. Section 316 limits that action to whatever period § 315 would have allowed the state itself to sue, as if the patent had never been granted.
Why does a private grantee's lawsuit depend on the state's own limitations period?
Because Section 316 measures the grantee's right to sue against the same ten-year rule that governs the People of California under § 315, tying the private right to the public one.
Amendment History
Enacted 1872.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: letters patent lawsuit californialand grant lawsuit time limit california