United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee, 25 U.S. 530 (1827)

Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee

25 U.S. 530

Syllabus

Spanish grants made after the treaty of peace of 1782 between the United States and Great Britain within the territory east of the River Mississippi and north of a line drawn from that river at the thirty-first degree of north latitude east to the middle of the River Apalachicola have no intrinsic validity, and the holders must depend for their titles exclusively on the laws of the United States.

No Spanish grant, made while the country was wrongfully occupied by Spain, can be valid unless it was confirmed by the compact between the United States and the State of Georgia, of 24 April, 1802, or has been laid before the board of commissioners constituted by the Act of Congress of 3 March, 1803, ch. 340, and of March 27, 1804, ch. 414.