Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1890-01-04

FIVE lahors at least the one-half of which
shall he without the fa"llity of irrigation;
hut they can only receive this premium
for 500 families, although a greater number
should he introduced, and no fraction
whatever less thar 100 shall entjtle them
to any premium, not even proportionally
art. l3.-Should any contractor or con-
tractors in virtue of the number of fam
lies which he may have introduced, &C.
quire in conformity with the last article
more than eleven square leagues of land,
it shall nevertheless be granted, but sub
ject to the condition of alternating the ex-
cess, within twelve years. and if it ia not
done, the respective political authority
shall do it by selling it at public sale,
delivering the proceeds to the owners
after deducting the costs of sale.
cart. IA. To each family comprehen-
ded in the contract, whose sole occupa-
ton is cultivation of land, one labor shall
be given; should he also be stock
raiser, grazing land shall be added to
complete sitio and should his only oc-
cupation be raising of stock he shall only
receive superficies of grazing land,
equal to twenty-four million square bars"
Articles Is and Is, like article ID, refer
to amounts of land to be given. On
September 4, 1927, series of instructions
to commissioners appointed by the legis-
lature for the partition of lands among
the new colonists was issued by the gov
eminent. See Rockwell's Spanish and
Mexican law, 649. Among them, article
reads thus:
Art. 4. "He shall issue in the name
0f ha or ba ~,
formity with the law, and put new colo.
nists in possession of their lands, with
all legal formalities, and the previous
citation of adjoining propretors, should
there be any any,"
And article "a. thus:
Art. "a. He shall take special care
that the proportion of land granted to the
colonists by articles ID, Is and IL, shall
be measured by the surveyors with &C.
curacy, and not permit any one to include
more land than is designated by law,
under the penalty Of being personally
responsible"
Reference in these articles to article
IA, 10 and l6 is to articles in the coloniza-
ton law. Now article s of the law,
quoted above, prescribes what the gov
eminent will do when the petition of an
empresario for colonization is presented.
If found comfortable with this law, the
government will Immediately "desig-
nate" to the contractors land wherein to
establish themselves. This of course
does not mean that the government will
grant them the land, but simply that it
will select and designate the place where
colony may be settled. So that when
we find in the first article of the grant,
that the government assigns given
tract to the petitioners for the establish
ment of colony, the assignment is
made by virtue OF this article eight of the
law, and means simply the selection of a
place for the colony Passing on to ar
ticle II, we find what the government
will give to the empresario specifically
| declared, to-wit: For each hundred fam
| lilies five sitios of grazing land, and five
| labors, at least the one-half OF which
shall be without the facility OF irrigation
This article makes plain the meaning of
article three of the grant, and shows that
that means simply that in consideration
of the setting apart of this large tract of
land the petitioners agree to introduce
and settle on that land 200 families.
Articles IL and 10 together provide what
shall be given to the empresarios who in
PRODUCES 800 families and receives more
than eleven square leagues OF land. This
last article shows clear intent that no
party should obtain title to more than
eleven square leagues, no matter what
services in colonization he may render
to the state. Articles Ia, Is and l6 pro
vide what the individual settlers
are to receive, and sections
from ~ to 16 inclusive ex.
plain fully the meaning of article of the
grant, which declares that the state re.
tains title to all the surplus land within
the grant, after laying off that which be.
longs to the empresarios and their settlers.
Thus the law makes plain the meaning OF
the contract, and shows that it was not q
conveyance passing title. In other words,
the grant must he presumed to have been
made in pursuance Of the law, and to be
limited by the terms of the law. Indeed
it is doubtful whether a grant made in
excess of the authority given by the law
would be vail This grant in terms re-
fers to the la & under which it was made,
and shows that it was made in pursuance
OF the authority conferred hy that law,
which provides that the government will
select tract of land upon which the en-
presario may establish colony, and that
if he does he will be paid in land at q
fixed rate, and that the colonists that he
introduces will also receive definite
amounts If land. This grant, made thus
in pursuance of this law, means just what
the law says it may mean, and was simply
a designation of tract within which the
petitioners might establish colony. Ii
Of itself passed title to no portion of the
land to EN-.
In Spencer VS.. Lapsley, 20 How, 27O,
the supreme court used this language in
respect to the law under which this grant
was made.
"The contract of an empresario obliged
him to introduce colonists into a specific
district. The colonist having a family
was entitled to one league of land, Of 6
particular quality, for which he paid 6
small sum to the government. The EN-.
presario was paid five leagues and five
labors for every 100 families introduced
OF course, the excess of land within the
limits OF the colony, after supplying the
colonlsts and the empresario, remained
to the government. The commissioner
of distribution was an officer of the gov
ernment, who superintendent the fulfill
ment of the contract by the empresario
He ascertaned the character of thu
colonists, allotted to them and the EN-
presario their shares of land, and for tina
purpose appointed surveyors, received
returns of the survey, and executed tn,
final titles"
Further strengthing this view of thu
meaning OF the grant is article four of thu
instructions, quoted supra, which pro
vides that The commissioners shall issue
: the title for land; and this simply carries
out the idea running through the law, thai
no title passed to any of the land unit
, the establishment of the colony.
But further, the law which we have
, been considering was the law of the state
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