A grant of land in Florida within the Indian boundary, by the
governor acting under the Crown of Spain before the cession of
Florida to the United States, was confirmed to the grantee, by the
decree of the judge of the Eastern District of Florida. The decree
was affirmed on appeal.
The subject of grants of land within the Indian boundary, which
had not by any official act been declared a part of the royal
domain, was fully and ably considered in the case of
Johnson v.
McIntosh, 8 Wheat. 543, 5 Cond. 515. Every European
government claimed and exercised the right of granting lands while
in the occupation of the Indians.
The grants of land in the possession of the Indians by the
Governor of Florida under the Crown of Spain, were good to pass the
right of the Crown. The grants severed them from the royal domain,
so that they became private property, which was not ceded to the
United States by the treaty with Spain.
MR. JUSTICE BALDWIN delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal from the decree of the Judge of the Superior
Court for the Eastern District of Florida, confirming the claim of
the appellees to sixteen thousand acres of land pursuant to the
acts of Congress for the adjustment of land claims in Florida.
In the court below, the petition was in the form prescribed by
law, presenting a proper case for the exercise of the jurisdiction
of the Court.
The claim of the petitioner was founded on his application to
the Governor of East Florida for a grant of sixteen thousand acres
of land, in consideration of his services to the Spanish
government, which was granted to him at the place specified, with
directions to make the surveys there, or at any other that may be
vacant. This grant was made 16 November, 1817, and surveyed in May
and June, 1818, in four different tracts.
Various objections were made in the court below to the
Page 35 U. S. 304
confirmation of the title, which have not been pressed here, as
they have been overruled in the previous decisions of this
Court.
The only one which has not been distinctly considered, is to
that part of the land surveyed which lies within the Indian
boundary, where, it is contended, the governor had no power to
grant lands. In the case of
Arredondo, the grant was of
lands within the Indian boundary, but which, by a proceeding in the
nature of an inquest of office at the common law, were declared to
be annexed to the royal domain by their abandonment by the Indians.
31 U. S. 6 Pet.
741. In the case of
Mitchell, the original grant was made
by the Indians themselves of lands which had not reverted or been
ceded to the Crown, so that the broad question of the validity of
an original grant by the governor of lands within the Indian
boundary, which had not by any official act been decreed to form a
part of the royal domain has never come directly before us. It is
now distinctly presented for our adjudication, and ought to be
decided.
This subject was so fully and ably considered in
McIntosh v.
Johnson that we have only to refer to the language of the
Court to show that every European government claimed and exercised
the right of granting lands while in the occupation of the Indians.
21 U. S. 8
Wheat. 574,
21 U. S. 579, 5
Cond. 515. The proclamation of 1763, which was the law of Florida
while that province was under the dominion of Great Britain, gave
express authority to the governor of that province to grant bounty
lands to the officers and soldiers entitled under that
proclamation. No other restrictions were imposed on them, than that
they should not grant any lands beyond the bounds of their
respective governments, as described in their commissions. The
general prohibition to grant lands reserved to the Indians was
confined to the governors of the other colonies or plantations in
America. 6 Laws United States 446.
The government of East Florida was declared to be bounded, west
by the Appalachicola and the Gulf of Mexico, north by a line drawn
from the junction of the Chattahoochie and Flint Rivers to the
source of the St Mary's River, and by the course of that river to
the Atlantic ocean, and to the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean
and the Gulf of Mexico, including all islands within six leagues of
the sea coast. 6 Laws 444. Under the British government then, the
Governor of East Florida had express power to make grants of lands
in the possession of the Indians. Spain never made any formal
designation of boundary between the two provinces, but practically,
West Florida
Page 35 U. S. 305
extended east of the Appalachicola to the St Mark's; this,
however, left the whole country, to the east of the St. Marks,
within the eastern province, including the lands in question.
34 U. S. 9 Pet.
738.
It does not appear that either government had ever established
any definite boundary between them, and the Indians in East
Florida; the evidence to the contrary is very strong, as appeared
in the case of
Mitchell,
9 Pet. 745, and as it appears in this record, 17-19. Nor does there
appear to have been any restriction on the powers of the governor
to make grants of land under Spain, other than those imposed on the
governors under Great Britain; both made grants without regard to
the land being in the possession of the Indians; they were valid to
pass the right of the Crown, subject to their right of occupancy;
when that ceased, either by grant to individuals with the consent
of the local governors, by cession to the Crown, or the abandonment
by the Indians; the title of the grantee became complete.
On the general question, therefore, of the validity of grants of
lands in East Florida in the possession of the Indians, we are of
opinion that they were good to pass the right of the Crown; the
grant of the governor severed them from the royal domain, so that
they became private property, which was not ceded to the United
States by the treaty with Spain.
We therefore adjudge the title of the appellee to be valid,
and affirm the decree of the court below.
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the Superior Court for the District of East Florida, and was
argued by counsel, on consideration whereof it is ordered, adjudged
and decreed by this Court that the decree of the said Superior
Court for the District of East Florida in this cause be, and the
same is hereby affirmed.