OCR Text |
Show ‘*Un- United States. tention of congress to confine the authority conferred s At the hearing before the court of private land claims, the proof established the settlement and organization of the later act to narrower limits than those fixed by t . act of 1851. The act of 1851 authorized the ee oe the City y of § anta Fe. The various grants referred to in the answer of the several d efendants were offered in evl- . of any ‘right’ or of claims to land by + v virtueovernment, and conferred rived from the Spanishish g dence power in express language on the board and tending to show that they ne bes therefore, adverse to the claims of the sume a grant in favor of a town. . pan The act 0 dos Par * Pasa eee ee eo ld ere Pre errr irse Pherae BPers Be 8 re Arr i a 5Slatin gon this sepennben, only entirely omits authority to invoke any Claim, s terms but, as we have seen, excludes by expres a the ON J + |a ee ee Te°°. oe adduced between the act of 189 i accentuates the es rs testimony sre The difference ized to confirm. and the California act of 1851 . iaded es the nature of the claim to title which the court 1s pera and that another portion was in possession of the Territorial executive officers under the authority of the United and wk ba ee ee does of lot-holders to lots within the town, this provision not override the general requirements of the statute as to an establishment known as the Indian Industrial School, covered territory embraced within the claim to the four 9 : 7 United States for a military post, known as Fort Marcy, for a building known as the ‘‘Federal Building,’’ and for States. ‘‘ Although the act of 1891, in section i, wanare ee a town presenting a claim for a grant to represent the c - we * CJ eer “e-6" 6 ee ees ee * A os ed _ oe Pm LA Pe ee a LP eeJeeees were ee however, CO claims, ee of which portions of the four square not admitted, and that ine leagues were in control, occupancy, and possession of the Sor Eee 8-0-0 5.8. 0. the plaintiff, the validity Oe fect, the claimant could by right and not by grace, have demanded that it should be made perfect by the ae the government, had the territory not been acquired by Cos oa Patd derived, but that, if the grant were not complete and per- leagues of land; the answer averred that title to a large portion of the land embraced within the four square leagues was claimed under Spanish grants by others than red CE REOwD Fe See SSL ee rit $< 9+ of the Spanish law entitled to claim the four square ORD oe rts Pree eteAtct ate ts the confirmation of a grant by t he court of A claims, not only that the title was lawfully and regularly PN by operation Spanish Villa had received title to or was oe in order to der the act of March 3, 1891, it must appear, private land mes 6 Ni vi with instructions to The supreme court held that eT dismiss the petition. r organtionalsoand that the itfounda e to Fe; ization Villa relativ de Santa denied the Zactsof asthealleged re was reversed and the cause remanded ae denied ee Mela tel i. eed ded ve eee Nr he hd oe Cz OE Ser ey ee in its answer, s States government, om The United There was no evidence introduced showing that La Villa de Santa Fe, in any of its forms of organization under the Spanish government, or that the City of Santa Fe itself, had ever possessed the four square leagues to which it asserted title, or that any lot-holder in the city claimed to own or hold by virtue of any title derived under the supposed right of the city. There was an entire absence of proof showing that any right by possession or otherwise of within the area claimed was held under or by virtue the the implied grant of four square leagues upon which 1715 city relied. On the contrary there was proof that in of the city of Santa Fe petitioned for a grant of a tract four the of es boundari the within situate land swamp : square leagues. 0 f the court of private land claims was 5 : The decision The favorable to the contention of the City of Santa Fe. United United States appealed to the supreme court of the Unite States, where the decree of the court of private land claims ot ae. tee tf-45 such facts were evidenced by a valid testumono; that the archives and records of the Villa were destroyed in the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680 and on that account could not be produced. The petition concluded with a prayer for confirmation to the city ‘‘in trust for the use and benefit of the inhabitants thereof, and of such grantees and assignees of parts of the said lands as have derived, or may hereafter acquire by due assignments, allotments, and titles in severalty to said parts respectively.’’ A demurrer to this petition was filed, giving as grounds that no cause of action had been stated and that it failed to disclose the fact that there were many adverse claimants, under Spanish grants, to the land sued for, and that such claimants were necessary parties defendant. Thereafter seventeen persons appeared, alleging that they were the holders of Spanish titles to land within the area claimed and that their interests were adverse to the city. An amended petition was filed and these seventeen persons were made defendants. 227 THE SPANISH ARCHIVES OF NEW MEXICO THE SPANISH ARCHIVES OF NEW MEXICO ae 226 |