Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-06-05
The LAND COURT.
Prof. Bandslier Speaks His Mind Con-
corning tho Court.

oetooiiohACut Oy NoAkA0oS VI SPOSioI
court for the settlement of grants and
land titles of foreign origin, chiefly in the
southwestern territories, is looked upon
by the inhabitants Of these territories as q
very important measure. 1t is confident
ly hoped that much good will result from
the labors of that court.
The duties OF its members require con-
siderable erudition. There is not the
least doubt that, with the great strides
made in the United States in the
knowledge of foreign legislation, foreign
history and foreign language, it will be
easy to find persons particularly we'll
qualified.
The provision of the oct excluding citi-
zens of the territories interested from be-
coming members Of the land court is ex-
tremely wise. 1t secures absolute theo-
retic impartiality. The court may, in this
manner, become as thoroughly impartial
as jury of marble monuments would
prove to be in a case of divorce. 1t was
also highly judicious to provide that the
translator shall not be resident or native
Of the land the documents Of which he is
to render into English. The terms which
are sometimes used in those documents has
become obsolete, and and are at this day
known as provincialisms, limited often to
small territory, and any translator who
is not versed in the Spanish of the south
west is therefore not much exposed to
misinterpretation, for the simple reason
that, in most cases, he will not be able
to interpret the terms in question at all.
There is little danger Of the minds Of the
judges being bisssed by preconceived no.
tions about the lay OF the land in any
country OF which they have no idea,
and concerning the inhabitants Of which
they lack all practical knowledge. In
short, there is no doubt but that the COM
position of the court, as provided in the
act, is likely to insure, theoretically, the
most complete impartialty.
The court may be placed in something
akin to dilemma. There are in New
Mexico, for instance, more than one
kind of ancient grants and titles. Some
Of them convey absolute dominion, others
were intended a. usrfructs only, still
others include both. In regard to the
validity OF Spanish titles it may be OBJ
served that If the judges should base
their rulings upon the Laws of Indies
or upon such passages thereof as
they may have translated for refer
ence, it would be surprising If a single
grant should be considered valid, for there
is not one grant in New Mexico that
comes up to the requirements of the
"Leyes de Indias" in regard to confirma-
ton, registry, and attestation. For
more than hundred years under Span
ish rule there was no public notary in New
Mexico. Such defects may induce the
court simply to reject all titles Of that
kind presented to them. Still, there
has scarcely ever been any question
raised az to the authority Of Spanish gov
ernors to grant lands, and their grants,
although lacking the royal confirma-
ton and the notarial certificates, have not
been disputed, except in very few cases.
It may be now that (although there is no
evidence OF it) some knowledge was OBJ.
tanned, in congress as well as in the
supreme court, of the peculiar conditions
under which New Mexico was governed
and administered by the representatives
of Spain. 1t may be also that some at
tention has been bestowed upon the
Ordinances of 1873, or upon the con-
tract made in 1886 with Don Juan de
Onate, or the royal decree of 1908 con-
cerning the administration of New Mex
leo. Should these documents have been
overlooked, it would be we'll for the land
court to pay some attention to them,
since they virtually embody the basis
upon which the validity Of titles derived
from Spanish governors is founded. 1t
might also not be amiss for the court to
acquaint itself with the manner in which
surveys of land were carried on century
ago, and not to insist (as some well in
tentioned officers of the government seem
to have done) that the boundaries of tracts
be determined after system excellently
fitted for regions where natural condi-
tions are as different from those in the
southwest as the zebra is from the
mountain sheep.
In regard to Mexican grants, the main
difficulty consists in the state of chronic
political confusion peculiar to the Mexi-
can Republic until lately. During the
many years of constant turmoil in Mexi-
co, land laws were promulgated which
applied to every portion Of the county ex-
cept New Mexico. That Territory was
simply over looked, in the same manner
at the Principality Of Lichtenstein is saifl
to have been ommitted and overlooked
when the German States made peace with
each other IN 1865, 80 that the Prince Of
Lichtenstein is still officially at war with
the German Empire to-day. Notwith-
standing the fact that the colonization
laws of Mexico are not applicable to the
territory of New Mexico, our supreme
court has, in several instances, based its
decisions upon such acts of the Mexican
congress, There is also considerable un-
certainty in regard to tho authority of