Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ainsa_v._United_States_(161_U.S._208)/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 18:14:52+00:00

Document:
As remarked in Astiazaran v. Mining Co., 148 U.S. 80, 81, 13 Sup. Ct. 457, a case involving title to the ranchos of Tumacacori, Calabazas, and Huevavi, undoubtedly private rights of property within ceded territory are not affected by the change of sovereignty and jurisdiction, and are entitled to protection, whether the party had the full and absolute ownership of the land or merely an equitable interest therein which requires some further act of the government to vest in him a perfect title. And this is so by the law of nations, 'with or without any stipulation to such effect' (Strother v. Lucas, 12 Pet. 410, 436), but when stipulations exist, the terms in which the high contracting parties have expressed themselves are to be observed.
By article 8 of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848), Mexicans, established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and remaining for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the treaty, were free to continue where they then resided or to remove at any time to the Mexican republic, 'retaining the property which they possess in said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please;' and 'in the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall enjoy, with respect to it, guaranties equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States.' 9 Stat. 922, 929.
Article 6 of the Gadsden treaty (December 30, 1853) is as follows: 'No grants of land within the territory ceded by the first article of this treaty, bearing date subsequent to the day twenty-fifth of September-when the minister and subscriber to this treaty on the part of the United States, proposed to the government of Mexico to terminate the question of boundary, will be considered valied or be recognized by the United States, or will any grants made previously be respected or be considered as obligatory, which have not been located and duly recorded in the archives of Mexico.' 10 Stat. 1031, 1035.
The difference in language between the two treaties is readily seen. Grants previous to the cession, which have not been located, are by the terms of the latter treaty not to be respected or considered as obligatory, as matter of right, whatever the United States might see fit to do, as matter of grace, under particular circumstances. And grants which have not been located would seem manifestly to be grants of a specific quantity of land within exterior boundaries containing a larger quantity. This was a familiar class of Mexican grants, and is referred to by Mr. Justice Field in Hornsby v. U.S., 10 Wall. 224, 232, where, delivering the opinion of the court, he said: 'As we have had occasion to observe in several instances, grants of the public domain of Mexico, made by governors of the department of California, were of three kinds: (1) Grants by specific boundaries, where the donee was entitled to the whole tract described; (2) grants by quantity, as of one or more leagues situated at some designated place, or within a larger tract described by outboundaries, where the donee was entitled, out of the general tract, only to the quantity specified; and (3) grants of places by name, where the donee was entitled to the tract named according to the limits, as shown by its settlement and possession, or other competent evidence. The greater part of the grants which have come before this court for examination have belonged to the second class.' The mode in which private rights of property may be secured, and the obligations imposed upon the United States by treaties fulfilled, belong to the political department of the government to provide. In respect to California, this was done through the establishment of a judicial tribunal, but in respect of the adjustment and confirmation of claims under grants from the Mexican government in New Mexico and in Arizona, congress reserved to itself, prior to the passage of the act of March 3, 1891, creating the court of private land claims (26 Stat. 854, c. 539), the determination of such claims, enacting, as to New Mexico: 'That the surveyor-general for the territory, under the instructions of the secretary of the interior, should ascertain the origin, nature, character and extent of all such claims, and for this purpose might issue notices, summon witnesses, administer oaths and do all other necessary acts; and should make a full report on such claims, with his decision as to the validity or invalidity of each under the laws, usages and customs of the country before its cession to the United States; and that his report should be laid before congress for such action thereon as might be deemed just and proper, with a view to confirm bona fide grants, and to give full effect to the treaty of 1848 between the United States and Mexico' (Astiazaran v. Mining Co., supra; 10 Stat. 308, c. 103, § 8); and similarly as to the surveyor general of Arizona by the act of July 15, 1870 (16 Stat. 304, c. 292).
As to the claim in question, this officer made the report attached to one of the pleadings, but the claim was never confirmed. An authentic survey and final determination of the location and boundaries of such claims was contemplated in any event. Stoneroad v. Stoneroad, 158 U.S. 240, 15 Sup. Ct. 822. Then came the passage of the act of March 3, 1891, repealing the prior acts, and creating the court whose decree is now under review.
By the first subdivision of section 13 of this act it is provided that: 'No claim shall be allowed that shall not appear to be upon a title lawfully and regularly derived from the government of Spain or Mexico, or from any of the states of the republic of Mexico having lawful authority to make grants of land, and one that if not then complete and perfect at the date of the acquisition of the territory by the United States, the claimant would have had a lawful right to make perfect had the territory not been acquired by the United States, and that the United States are bound, upon the principles of public law, or by the provisions of the treaty of cession, to respect and permit to become complete and perfect if the same was not at such date already complete and perfect.' Here, again, there are significant differences between this phraseology and that used in the act of March 3, 1851, 'to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the state of California' (9 Stat. 631, c. 41), which provided that the board of commissioners thereby created, the district court, and this court, in deciding on the validity of any claim brought before them, should 'be governed by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, the law of nations, the laws, usages and customs of the government from which the claim is derived, the principles of equity, and the decisions of the supreme court of the United States, so far as they are applicable'; that is, the decisions theretofore given in relation to title in Louisiana and Florida, which were derived from the French or Spanish authority previous to the cession to the United States. Fremont v. U.S., 17 How. 542, 553.
It is contended on behalf of the United States that this grant was void because the departmental officers had no power, under the laws of Mexico in force when it purported to be made, to make it without the approval of the supreme government, which it is not claimed had been given; and also, if otherwise valid, that confirmation could not be accorded, because the evidence failed to show that it was duly recorded in accordance with the requirements of the Mexican laws; but we need not enter upon the consideration of either of these propositions, since, assuming that this was a valid grant, made by the proper officers, and duly recorded, we concur with the court below that it was the grant of a specific quantity of land, and not of the entire 18 leagues contained within the exterior boundaries, and, not having been located at the date of the treaty, could not be confirmed.
It is to be noted that the petition of Don Jos e Elias does not appear in the expediente, and its nonproduction is nowhere accounted for. The recitals in other parts of the proceedings as to the contents of such a petition were not considered in U.S. v. Cambuston, 20 How. 59, 63, as conclusive, or even satisfactory, evidence of that fact; and appellants' argument treats the exact terms of the application as of importance, since they insist it was a petition for all the vacant public lands between the north boundary of Casita and the west boundary of Tumacacori and Calabazas. But the most that can be claimed is that the petition was for 7 1/2 sitios as what was needed for the cattle of Don Elias and his parents, and that Don Elias may have assumed that that number of sitios covered all the vacant lands. And as, in our judgment, the expediente shows that what was directed to be appraised, what was appraised, what was directed to be sold, what was sold, what was paid for, and what purported to be granted was 7 1/2 sitios and 2 short caballerias, while the alleged preliminary survey indicated general boundaries containing over 18 sitios, we think, as the court of private land claims did, that the grant was of 7 1/2 sitios and 2 scant caballerias within exterior boundaries, and that location was a prerequisite to any action by the court.
Appellants insist that the grant of a certain quantity of land situated at some designated place, or within a larger tract described by outboundaries, was not known to the 'State of the West,' made up of Sonora and Sinaloa, and reference is made to certain laws of May 20, 1825 and of July 11, 1834, as showing that lands in that state were to be surveyed before they were sold, and sold by metes and bounds as surveyed. The order of the superior board of the treasury of the department, set forth in the expediente, required compliance with the provisions of the law of July 11, 1834, and also with the regulations for surveying lands for raising cattle and horses made under the law of May 20, 1825; and, as to any overplus within the lawful boundaries of Casita, required it not to be published, but appraised in conformity with article 2 of decree No. 51 of May 12, 1835.
Certain articles of the law of July 22, 1863, treat of the ascertainment and disposition of excesses where the indicated boundaries are supposed to cover only a certain quantity of land which, when resurveyed, turns out to be much larger than as described in the titles; and such resurveys had been practiced from an early day, and were recognized by Don Elias himself in his application in respect of La Casita. Royal Decree, Oct. 15, 1754, § 7, Reynold's Span. & Mex. Land Law, 54; Law July 11, 1834, c. 9, § 3; Id., 187; Law July 22, 1863, Hall's Mex. Law, 174.
Navamuel was instructed to survey 7 1/2 sitios of the vacant public lands 'situated between the north boundary of the ranch of Casita and the west boundary of the mission of Tumacacori and Calabazas,' and to measure the land between the north boundary of one tract and the west boundary of another may be supposed to involve considerable difficulty. However, it is said that the mission of Tumacacori and Calabazas lay north of these lands, and the surveyor general of Arizona was of opinion that the claim should bind the ranchos of Casita and Calabazas 'with the easterly and westerly lines so established as to include exactly seven and one-half square leagues and two caballerias.' The proceedings show that Navamuel understood that the sale was not to be of a particular tract for a sum in gross, but of a specific number of sitios at the upset price fixed by the appraisal of those sitios; and that he was not to survey the whole of an existing tract, but to delineate a tract containing the desired number of sitios. With that understanding he apparently attempted, partly by measurements and partly by conjecture, to survey a parallelogram of 340 cordels by 222 cordels, which would contain 7 1/2 sitios, running a little over; and, so far from intending to include all the public lands, he consulted the party 'as to how he wanted the land squared,' that is, the land to come to him,-and acted on his reply.
In common-law conveyances the words 'more or less,' while sometimes having practically no effect, are frequently added to prevent the precise quantity named from being conclusive on the parties, and may operate to make a sale of land one in gross instead of by the acre; but the bare fact that Navamuel estimated a portion of his measurements was not equivalent to stamping 'more or less' on the transaction, or rendering the specified quantity not of its essence.
How much land was appraised and sold and paid for? The minimum price at which the land could be appraised and sold was $15 per sitio. The price paid was at that rate for exactly 7 1/2 sitios and 2 caballerias. The commission to the appraisers was for the appraisement of 7 1/2 sitios; the appraisement was for 7 1/2 sitios; the procurator fiscal, in his review of the proceedings, pointed out that the appraisers had erred in taking no account of the two short caballerias, which he valued at 5 reals and 10 grains, raising the total value from $112.50 to $113.15; the order for publication of notice referred to 'the sitios surveyed for Don Jos e Elias and Don Francisco Gonzalez' as 'having now been appraised'; and the notices published were for the sale of 'seven and one-half sitios and two short caballerias of land appraised at $113, 1 real, and 10 grains.' The order striking off and selling the property to the purchasers, after reciting the assembling of the board, stated that, the crier having announced that the 7 1/2 sitios and the 2 short caballerias of land were to be sold, and that thereupon the agent of Don Jos e Elias and his parents came forward and again offered the $113, 1 real, and 10 grains, for which the land was appraised, continued: 'And the midday hour of twelve having sounded, for the last time the crier said: 'Going once, twice, three times; sold, sold, sold; may it do much good, good, good, to Don Jos e Elias and his parents, Don Francisco Gonzalez and Dona Balvanera Redondo.' In these terms this act was terminated, and there was publicly and solemnly sold the seven and one-half sitios and two short caballerias of land for raising cattle and horses, comprising the vacant public lands situated between the boundaries of Casita and those of the mission of Tumacacori and Calabazas, in the upper Pima country, in the jurisdiction of the town of Imuris, for the sum of one hundred and thirteen dollars, one real, and ten grains, in which they were appraised.' It is true that in the translation before us the words 'comprising the vacant public lands' are used, while in other parts of the proceedings the specified quantity is described as 'contained in' or 'comprised in' the vacant public lands; as, for instance, in the execution of the grant the words are, 'contained in the public lands.' But we do not think this difference in translation, or if existing in the original, can operate to make this an appraisement, advertisement, and sale of all the public lands north of Casita, no matter what their extent, but that these proceedings and the grant were plainly an appraisement, advertisement, sale, purchase, and grant of the specific quantity of 7 1/2 sitios and 2 caballerias scant. It is certain that the officers had no authority and did not intend to sell 78,868 acres for the purchase price of 32,744 acres; that in all the proceedings the transaction was limited to 7 1/2 sitios; that Navamuel determined what was needed by Elias as a cattle breeder, made his survey, approved the appraisement, and published for bids at 'a better valuation' on that basis; and that the Mexican government has construed the grant in the same way in ordering a resurvey, and thereupon adjudicating the excess over 7 1/2 sitios.
In Malarin v. U.S., 1 Wall. 282, 289, Mr. Justice Filed, again speaking for the court, in setting forth the act of juridical possession described in the expediente in that case, said: 'Under the civil, as at the common, law, a formal tradition or livery of seisin of the property was necessary. As preliminary to this proceeding, the boundaries of the quantity granted had to be established, when there was any uncertainty in the description of the premises. The measurement and segregation in such cases therefore preceded the final delivery of possession. By the Mexican law various regulations were prescribed for the guidance in these matters of the magistrates of the vicinage. The conditions annexed to the grant in the case at bar required the grantee to solicit juridical possession from the proper judge. In compliance with this requirement, within four months after the issue of the grant, he presented the instrument to the judge of the district, and requested him to designate a day for delivering the possession. The judge designated a day, and directed that the adjoining proprietors be cited, and that measurers and counters be appointed. On the day designated the proprietors appeared, and two measurers and two counters were appointed, and sworn for the faithful discharge of their duties. The line provided for the measurement was produced, and its precise length ascertained. The measurers then proceeded to measure off the land, the judge and the proprietors accompanying them. The measurement being effected, the parties went to the center of the land, and there the judge directed the grantee to enter into the possession, which he did, and gave evidence of the fact 'by pulling up grass and making demonstration as owner of the land.' Of the various steps thus taken, from the appointment of the day until the final act of delivery, a complete record was kept by the judge, and by him transmitted to the grantee, after being properly entered upon the 'book of possessions."
Nor are we prepared to accede to the suggestion that because, in the final execution of the grant, the purchasers were cautioned 'to restrict and limit themselves to the land, holdings, metes and bounds particularly described in the hereinbefore inserted proceedings of survey,' and to comply with the law as to monuments at their boundary termini, therefore it is to be inferred that the act of juridical possession had already taken place, though not disclosed by Navamuel's report.

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