Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-04-28
contract totally anRulled if they do not
bring at least one hundred families.
Art @ Contracta M ado nv the ron.

contract totally annulled if they do Z
bring at least one hundred families.
cart 9. Contracts made by the CO
tractors or undertakes, empresarios, wi
families brought at their expense, a
guaranteed by this law, SC far as they a
conformable with it's provisions.
cart. 10. In the distribution of land
preference shall be given to the militia
entitled to them, by the diplomas ISSUE
by the supreme executive power, aud tt
Mexican citizens who are not militar'
among whom there shall be no other di
tinction than that founded on their ind
vidual merit or services performed fc
the country, or, in equal circumstances
a residence in the place where the Ian
may be situated. The quantity of Ian
which may be granted is designated il
tie following articles.
cart. II. A square of land, which Of
one side has one league or five thousan'
varas, or, what is the same thing, su
perfcie of twenty-five million varas, shal
be called a sitio, and this shall be the I'm
ity for counting one, two or more sitios
and also the unity for counting one, two
or more labors shall be one million
side, which shall compose labor. The
vara for this measurement shall be three
geometrical feet.
"Art. IL. Taking the above unity as a
basis, and observing the distinction which
must be made between grazing land, or
that which is proper for raising stock, and
farming land, without the facility of irri-
cation, this law grants to the contractor
or contractors for the establishment of q
new settlement, for each hundred fami-
lies which he may introduce and estab-
lish in the State, five sitios of grazing
land, and five labors at least, the one-half
OF which shall be without the facility of
irrigation but they can only receive this
premium for eight hundred families, al
though greater number should be intro
duced, and no fraction whatever less
than one hundred shall entitle them to
any premium, not even proportionately.
cart. 10. Should any contractor or
contractors, in virtue of the number OF
families which he may have introduced,
acquire 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 is not
done the respective political authority
shall do 1t by selling it at public sale, de-
livering the proceeds to the owners after
deducting the costs of sale.
Art. IA. To each family comprehend
ed in contract whose sole occupation is
cultivation of land one labor shall be CIV
en- should he also be stock-raiser, graz
ing land shall be added to complete 81
ito; and should his only occupation be
raising of stock, he shall only receive
superficie of grazing land equal totwenty-
four million square bars"
The following articles of the "instrue-
tons to the commissioners appointed by
the legislature of the State" for the parti-
ton of the lands among the colonists, I'M
der the act of March "a, 1925, found in
Rockwell's Spanish and Mexican Law, p.
649. relate to the question at issue:
Art. 4. He shall issue, in the name
of the State, the titles for land, in con-
formity with the law, and put the new
colonists in possession of their lands,
with all legal formaiities, and the pre-
vious citation of adjoining proprietors,
should there be any,"
Art. 6. He shall take care that no
vacant lands be left between posse sions,
and in order that the lines of each may be
clearly designated, ne shall compel the
within the term of one year, to
mark their lines, and to establish fixed
and permanent corners.
Art. 7. He shall appoint under his
own responsibility the surveyor, who
shall Survey the land scientifically, re-
curing him previously to take an oath
truly and faithfully to discharge the du'
lies OF his office.
Art. 8. He shall form manuscript
book of paper of the third stamp, in which
shall be written the titles of the lands
distributed to the colonists, specifying the
names, the boundaries and other requisites
and legal circumstances and certified
COPY Of each title shall be taken from
said book on paper of the second stamp,
which shall be delivered to the interested s
person as his title. {
Art. 10. This book shall be pre- 4
served in the archives OF the new colony,
and an exact form of it shall be trans
mitted to the government, specifying the
number of colonists, with their names
and the quantity of land granted to each
one, distinguishing that which is farming
land, with or without the facilities OF irri-
cation, and that which is granted as graz.
ing land.
The act of 1926 and the instructions is
sued to carry into effect, when read in
with the terms OF the ''condl-
ions of the grant" abundantly show, we
think, that the extravagant claim OF the
appellant is utterly without foundation.
In this connection we can do no better
than to quote the words OF Mr.. Justice
Brewer, then Circuit Judge. After quot
ing from the law of 1926 and the instruc-
lions Just mentioned, he said: Article !
eight of the law quoted above prescribed
what the government would do when the ]
petition of an empresario for scolonization1
is presented. If found conformable with
this law, the government will Immediate
" designate to the contractors land
whereon to establish themselves. This
Of course does not mean that the govern
ment 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 CIV
en- tract to the petitioners for the estab-
lishment of colony, the assignment is
made by virtue Of this article eight OF the
law, and means simply the selection of q
place for the colony. Passing on to arti-
Gle IL, we find what the government will
give to the empresario specifically de-
clared, to-wit: ''For each hundred fami-
lies, five sitios of grazing land and five la.
bors, at least the one-hals of which shall
be without the facility ofirrigation." This
article makes plain the meaning of article t
three of the grant, and shows that that
means simply that, in the consideration
of the setting apart of this large tract Of
land, the petitions agree to introduce and
settle on that land two hundred foreign
families. Articles IL and IS together
provided what shall be given to the empire