Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-10-27
THE LAS VEGAS
LAND GRANT
The Court Of Appeals Of the District
of Columbia Confirms the
Grant.
TOWN ENTITLED TO PATENT
The Opinion of the Court Was Rendered by
Chief Justice Alvey and Explains the
Character of Mexican Municipal
Grants,

| An opinion was rendered in the court
| of appeals of the District Of Columbia
again confirming the Las Vegas grant.
The decision was given in the case
pending before that court asking for an
injunction to restrain the commissioner
of the land office from issuing patent
for the grant to the town of Las Vegas
rms case was brought in the district
court of the District of Columbia, and
was there decided in favor of the town
OF Las Vegas, and was taken by appeal
from that court to the court of appeals
of the District of Columbia, which is the
highest court in that district, and is
only one step removed from the su-
preme court of the United States.
The opinion Of the court was rendered
by Chief Justice Alvey. and after dis
posing in the opinion Of some technical
objections, the court takes up the ques-
ton of the title to the Las Vegas grant
with the view of determining whether it
is in the so-called original grantees or
in the town Of Las Vegas. The court
reviews the history of the grant, it's
origin, and the proceedings had in ref
erence thereto before the departments
of the government, and before congress,
and then says:
such rights as We're conferred by
this grant were of a communal nature.
and such as are recognized by the mod
ern civil codes of continental Europe;
and especially by the laws and customs
Of Spain, and which have been largely
recognized in the laws and ordinances
adopted for the settlement and govern
1t is very clear, therefore, that the land
embraced in the grant of Las Vegas
was not intended to be assigned to
Macs and his associates in absolute
pi operty, to them and their heirs, but
was intended to be held by them in
trust for the benefit of the inhabitants
that might settle thereon. This was
the view entertained and en-
acted into law by congress, in confirm
ing the right to the town of Las Vegas.
1
cally announced and applied by the
land department of the government up
on more than one occasion.
''As to the point that the town Of Las
Vegas not having been incorporated, is
a legal nonentity, to which no title
would pass under the patent may be
replied that if this be true, as matter
Of fact and law the consequences would
be more far reaching; for congress, in
it's wisdom, confirmed the grant, as
shown, to the said town, and if there be
no such town in existence which can
take, there simply has been no confirm
alton of the grant, and nobody is as yet
entitled to a patent. But | do not un-
this to be the law of this case.
"Under the Mexican law or system,
originally the people were required, for
and other reasons. to
live in town while cultivating outlying
land, and the general laws of that coun-
try gave to such towns or puebos four
square leagues of land for the use of the
thereof, and occasionally
by special concession. as in the present
instance, grants of larger area were
made for the same purpose. None OF
these towns were ever incorporated, in
the sense in which we use the term so
far as my researches have gone. They
were aggregations of people who lived
together for mutual protection. and un-
der the laws and customs of that county
had officers for the administration of
their municipal affairs; but there was
no actual charter--no act of incorpora
ton conferred by the superior power of
the state; only the implication arising
from the recognition of the existence of
such towns, with authority to guide
their own town affairs.
"This was the condition of things
when New Mexico was acquired by the
United States, and the legal status of
these towns and their capacity to take
as confirmees of grants of public lands
have been recognized in too many in
stances by congress and the executive
through too long a period
of time to be now seriously questioned.
"In view Of all this, it is too late now
to say that Las Vegas has no legal ex-
istence If corporate capacity be neces-
sary to enable the town to take under
the grant. every presumption must be
that it has the necessary corporate ca
pacity, and the law so implies"
The court then enters decree order
ing the bill of complaint to be dismissed
on the ground that the so-called orig
inal grantees. who We're the plaintiffs,
had no title or interest in the grant.
AS will be seen from the foregoing.
the court goes squarely into the ques-
ton of title to the grant. and decides it
to be in the town of Las Vegas, and
that such town. whether Incorporated
or not, has capacity to take under the
grant and the law will presume such
capacity.