The twelfth section of the regulations of O'Reilly in 1770
required that there should be an order of survey, a proces verbal
by the surveyor of the province, three copies of the plat made out
by him, one of which should be deposited in the office of the
scrivener of the government, and Cabildo, a second delivered to the
governor, and the third to the proprietor, to be annexed to the
titles of the grant.
Where a grant was alleged to have been issued by the Spanish
Governor of Louisiana in 1781, and the only evidence of it was a
copy taken from a notary's book, the title was invalid.
At the date of the grant,
viz., 1 August, 1781, the
Spanish Governor of Louisiana was only the military commandant of
that part of West Florida in which the lands granted were situated.
He held the country by right of conquest. The Spanish laws had not
been introduced into the country, and it was not ceded to Spain by
Great Britain until 1783. The governor had therefore no authority
to grant land in 1781.
Under the acts of Congress of 1824 and 1844, the district court
had no power to act upon evidence of mere naked possession,
unaccompanied by written evidence, conferring or professing to
confer a title of some description.
Under the various acts of Congress relating to land titles in
that tract of country between the Iberville, the Perdido, and the
thirty-first degree of north latitude, a complete title,
unrecorded, is not barred against the United States, although it is
barred against any private claim derived from the United
States.
This was the case of a petition and amended petition presented
by the heirs of Thomas Power to the District Court for the Southern
District of Mississippi, the first on 15 June, 1846, and the latter
on 11 November, 1846, under the act of 1824, as revived and
reenacted by that of 1844, claiming two very valuable islands lying
off the coast of the State of Mississippi opposite the Bay of
Biloxi.
Page 52 U. S. 571
The petition and amended petition in substance set forth that
before the year 1760, Deer Island was occupied, with the verbal
consent of the provincial authorities, by Pierre Laclede and Pierre
Songy, who, on 11 September, 1760, sold all their rights to Andre
Jung; that on 7 March, 1761, the said Jung made a similar sale to
Ignace Brontin; and that, on 8 April, Brontin sold all his rights
to Francisco Caminada.
That afterwards, on 1 August, 1781, Caminada received a grant of
the said island called Deer Island and another called Ship Island
from Bernardo de Galvez, then Spanish Governor of Louisiana, which,
it is alleged, then extended to the east beyond the said islands,
as follows,
viz.:
"Don Bernardo de Galvez, Knight Pensioner of the Royal and
Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles the Third, Colonel of the
Royal Army, Governor, Intendant, and Inspector General of the
Province of Louisiana &c."
"Considering the foregoing acts performed by Don Francisco
Caminada, which establish the right of possession which he has to
the two islands, Deer and Ship, situated in front of the coast of
Biloxi, recognizing them to have been made out agreeably to the
order of survey, without causing prejudice to the neighbors
adjoining and without any opposition on their part, on the
contrary, yielding, as it appears, their assistance to the said
acts, approving them as we do approve them, therefor using the
authority which the King has confided to us
(otorgamos),
we grant in his royal name to the said Don Francisco Caminada the
possession of the aforesaid two islands, Deer and Ship, that as his
own property he may dispose of them and enjoy them, governing
himself by said acts and observing in everything that which has
been ordered for the settlement of the subject matter."
"We give these presents, signed with our hand, sealed with the
seal of our arms, and countersigned by the undersigned secretary of
his Majesty for this government."
"In New Orleans, on 1 August, 1781."
"BERNARDO DE GALVEZ"
"By order of his Excellency."
"MANUEL ANDRES LOPEZ DE ARMESTO"
"Registered in book of records for said object, in the archives
of my office, at folio 14. New Orleans, November 8, 1781."
"LEONARD MARANGE,
Notary"
The above, being a notarial copy, was the only evidence
exhibited of the grant. The original was lost.
Page 52 U. S. 572
The petition further stated that on 2 December, 1806, Prosper
Prieur, acting as the testamentary executor of Caminada, sold the
two islands to Thomas Power, to whom the petitioners are heirs.
The amended petition further stated that Caminada was an
inhabitant of Louisiana, where he lived and died; that the Surveyor
General of Mississippi, acting under instructions of the Treasury
Department, was executing, by a deputy, a survey of the islands,
which had not been completed, but Deer Island was estimated to
contain about two thousand acres, and Ship Island three thousand
acres; that the petitioners had no knowledge or information of any
adverse claim of title save and except transient and temporary
squatters who from time to time had occasionally occupied parts of
each island, and that they had no knowledge or belief that the
title was ever presented by their ancestor to any board of
commissioners whatever.
To this petition the district attorney filed his answer on 13
January, 1847, and insisted that the original petition was not
filed within the time limited by the act of 1824 and the act of
1828 amendatory thereto, and that, the amended petition not having
been filed until 11 November, 1846, the petitioners were barred and
precluded from the institution of any suit against the United
States, who relied upon the act of Congress of 1828 as limiting the
right to one year. But if it should be decided that the limitation
was two years, as provided in the act of 1824, they still insisted
that the claim was barred, the amended petition not having been
filed within two years from the passage of the act of 1844. The
answer further denied the grant to Caminada in 1781 and the sale by
his testamentary executor to Power. But if ever such a sale was
made, they denied the right of the executor to make it or to divest
the rights of the heirs of Caminada or pass any title to Power.
They know nothing of the sale from Laclede and Songy to Jung or of
the sale to Caminada, and they required proof of the identity and
rights of the parties claiming. They further denied that at the
time of the alleged grant in 1781, Caminada was an inhabitant of
Louisiana, or that he lived and died there, or that any order of
survey was executed for Caminada previous to the date of said
alleged grant. The answer further stated that the allegations in
the petition and amendment were not sufficient, if true, to
authorize a decree against the United States, and claimed the
benefit of this objection in the same manner as if it had been
relied upon by a demurrer.
Documents were filed and evidence was taken, but it is not
material to state the substance of either.
Page 52 U. S. 573
In November, 1848, the district court decreed
"That the claim and title of the petitioners to the two islands
or parcels of land as before described be and the same are hereby
confirmed to them in full property, the said original grant or
title, in the opinion of said court, being good and valid in virtue
of the patent therefor and in virtue of the Treaty of St. Ildefonso
between Spain and France of date October, 1800, and of the Treaty
of Paris of 1803 for the cession of Louisiana to the United States,
and by the laws of nations, and by the acts of Congress
hereinbefore referred to, under which this Court has cognizance of
said case."
"And it is further adjudged and decreed that the two several
islands aforesaid having each its natural boundary, a survey
thereof is therefore dispensed with, and that the petitioners'
title be confirmed to them in the whole extent of the natural
boundaries of said islands respectively, and if on investigation it
shall appear that the United States has heretofore made sale of all
or any part of said islands, then as to such sales the title hereby
confirmed shall stand qualified and inoperative as to the specific
land so sold, and in place and stead of the land so sold the
petitioners shall be permitted to enter a like quantity of land
within the same land district, which may be subject to sale at
private entry."
The United States appealed to this Court.
Page 52 U. S. 576
MR. JUSTICE CATRON delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case, the petition sets forth that, before the year
1760, Deer Island was occupied, with the verbal consent of the
provincial authorities, by Pierre Laclede and Pierre Songy, who on
11 September, 1760, sold their right of property thereof and the
improvements thereon to Andre Jung, and that he made a similar sale
to Ignace Brontin; that said Brontin sold the same to Francisco
Caminada, who for a great length of time thereafter occupied said
island; and that in 1806 Prosper Prieur, acting as the testamentary
executor of Caminada, sold to Thomas Power, ancestor of
complainants, two islands, known as Deer and Ship Islands, for
which two islands Francisco Caminada received a complete grant,
August 1, 1781, from Bernardo de Galvez, then Spanish Governor of
the Province of Louisiana.
The answer denies all these facts, and requires proof.
This claim was presented to the district court for the first
time, never having been laid before a board of commissioners or any
step taken in regard to it previously to its exhibition with the
petition June 15, 1846.
In the district court it was held that the grant for both
islands was valid, and a decree was rendered against the United
States.
Page 52 U. S. 577
No evidence was introduced to prove that such grant had been
made other than a Spanish copy, certified by a notary, from the
Spanish records in his office. The notarial record purports to have
been made November 8, 1781. This copy recites that it was founded
on a petition of Caminada asking for the grant in consideration of
acts performed by him, and was made out agreeably to an order of
survey and proces verbal, with the assent and assistance of the
neighbors, which survey and proces verbal the governor approves,
and on these proceeds to grant.
Assuming that the Spanish regulations had been adopted in
Florida, then the rule governing surveyors, existing in 1781, is
found in the twelfth regulation of O'Reilly of 1770. It requires
the acts to be done which are recited in the grant, and directs
that three copies shall be made of the plot and proces verbal by
the surveyor of the province, one of which shall be deposited in
the office of the scrivener of the government, and Cabildo; another
shall be delivered to the governor, and a third to the proprietor,
"to be annexed to the titles of the grant."
Nothing of the kind here appears. The only evidence is that the
grant was recorded on the notary's books, whether in the proper
office, to which a copy of the plan of survey and proces verbal
should have been returned, according to O'Reilly's regulation, does
not appear, although we suppose it was the proper office, where one
copy should have been deposited by the surveyor; yet no authority
existed for recording the grant there so far as we are informed,
and if there had, no complete title was recorded, as such title had
to be accompanied by the plot and proces verbal, describing the
land granted. On this unsupported and mutilated copy alone the
decree of the district court is founded.
Our next inquiry is whether Galvez, who purports to have made
the grant, had power to do so on 1 August, 1781.
1. By the laws of nations, in all cases of conquest, among
civilized countries, having established laws of property, the rule
is that laws, usages, and municipal regulations in force at the
time of the conquest remain in force until changed by the new
sovereign. And this raises the question of fact whether the King of
Spain had changed the laws of England existing in the province by
virtue of which the public domain could be granted to private
owners, as early as August 1, 1781, and in their stead adopted the
laws of Spain prevailing in Louisiana, as, if the Spanish King had
not done so, his officers had no power to grant. Having nothing to
govern us in ascertaining this fact but the history of Florida and
of its conquest by Spain, it becomes necessary to examine that
history, insofar
Page 52 U. S. 578
as the same may be judicially noticed and has any bearing on the
claim before us.
It was first discovered, inhabited, and governed by France as
part of Louisiana, and by that power ceded to Great Britain. By the
treaty of peace of 1763, the boundary between France and Great
Britain was declared to be through the Iberville, Lakes Maurepas
and Pontchartrain, to the sea, and the French King ceded the river
and port of Mobile, and everything he possessed on the left side of
the River Mississippi, with the exception of the town of New
Orleans and the island on which it is situated. Deer and Ship
Islands were therefore included in this cession to Great
Britain.
The King of Spain, by another article of the same treaty, ceded
to Great Britain Florida, with the fort of St. Augustine and the
Bay of Pensacola, as well as all that Spain possessed on the
continent of North America to the east or southeast of the River
Mississippi.
In 1763, the King of Great Britain by proclamation created the
governments of East and West Florida. The government of West
Florida was bounded to the southward by the Gulf of Mexico,
including all islands within six leagues of the coast, from
Appalachicola to Lake Pontchartrain; to the westward by the
Mississippi, Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas; to the north by the
thirty-first degree of north latitude; and to the east by the River
Appalachicola. In 1764, the northern line of Florida was extended
by Great Britain from the Appalachicola, at the thirty-first
degree, to the mouth of the Yazoo, on the Mississippi River.
Unzaga, having been appointed Captain General of the Caraccas,
was, by a royal schedule of 10 July, 1776, directed to surrender
provisionally the government and intendancy of Louisiana to
Bernardo de Galvez, colonel of the regiment of Louisiana.
Spain having declared war against Great Britain on 8 May, 1779,
on 8 July following, a royal schedule was issued authorizing the
Spanish subjects in the Indies to take part in the war.
With the official account of the rupture, Galvez, who had
hitherto from July 1, 1777, exercised the functions of governor
pro tempore, received the King's commission of governor
and intendant. The commission is dated 8 May, 1779, the day of the
declaration of war, and is confined to the Province of
Louisiana.
Galvez, on receipt of this commission, determined to attack the
British possessions in his neighborhood, and accordingly did so. On
21 September, 1779, Baton Rouge, Natchez,
Page 52 U. S. 579
and other posts in the same part of the country capitulated to
him.
His success was rewarded by a commission of brigadier general,
1780.
Early in January, 1780, he proceeded to attack Fort Charlotte,
on the Mobile River, which capitulated 14 March, 1780. Shortly
afterwards he proceeded to attack Pensacola, but his transports
having been dispersed and some of them lost by a storm, he went
back to Havana, whence he had set out.
In 1781, he was promoted to the rank of mariscal de campo.
On 28 February, 1781, he left Havana, again to attack Pensacola,
and on 9 March landed his troops, and on 9 May the British forces
capitulated. By express terms of the capitulation, the whole
province of West Florida was surrendered to Spain; Don Arthur
O'Neil, an Irish officer in the service of Spain, was left in
command at Pensacola.
The alleged grant by Galvez to Caminada bears a subsequent date,
viz., New Orleans, 1 August, 1781, less than three months
after the capitulation of Pensacola.
In the caption of the grant, Galvez is styled Colonel of the
Royal Army, Governor and Intendant of the Province of
Louisiana.
Mazange, who certifies the copy as registered in his office, was
appointed clerk of the Cabildo, 1 January, 1779, and held the
office until January, 1783.
The preliminary articles of peace between Spain and Great
Britain were signed at Paris, 20 January, 1783. By the third
article it is stipulated that "his Britannic Majesty will cede to
his Catholic Majesty East Florida, and his said Catholic Majesty
will retain West Florida."
At the date of the grant, Spain held in military occupation the
country to the east of the Island of Orleans under the capitulation
of Pensacola, liable to be divested by reconquest or surrender by a
treaty of peace.
Nothing is found in these historical details indicating that the
Spanish laws had been introduced into Florida and superseded those
of England and that civil power had been vested in Galvez to grant
lands. As this could only be done directly by the King, all
presumptions are opposed to such supposition. The grant purports to
have been made within eighty days after the capitulation of
Pensacola -- a time at that day hardly sufficient to have heard
from Spain, after the account of the capitulation reached there,
had there been no hostile British fleet intervening to intercept
intercourse. But what would seem to be conclusive of the fact is
that Galvez did not assume to grant
Page 52 U. S. 580
by any new authority, but did so under his commission as
Governor of Louisiana, and as this bore date before the conquest,
and did not extend to Florida, no such power could be exercised by
force of that commission. And not having power to grant merely as a
military officer in command, the grant could not be made by him,
and is void. Nor can we suppose that Galvez made any grant of the
date of August 1, 1781, as such assumption would be a reproach on
his high standing and intelligence.
2. The grant having no force, the next question is whether
complainants have shown any equity entitling them to a decree. As
to Deer Island, it is alleged that those under whom Caminada
claimed had possession by verbal permission from government for
many years under France and Great Britain. But no proof of the fact
was made, and if there had been such proof, it would be of no
value, as the district court did not possess power to act on
evidence of naked possession unaccompanied by written evidence
conferring, or professing to confer, a title of some
description.
As respects Ship Island, it is not pretended that any equitable
claim to it existed antecedent to the date of the grant.
3. If we had found this to be a legal and perfect title, then
the rule laid down in the
Case of Reynes at the last term
would apply and compel us to dismiss the petition for want of
jurisdiction, because the act of 1824 did not confer power on the
district courts to decide on perfect grants; but as a mutilated
title-paper is here set up, unaccompanied by a plan of survey and
proces verbal, which the grant refers to as a part thereof, and as
an equity standing in advance of the grant is relied on by the
petition to one of the islands, it is our duty to act on the
mutilated title and on the assumed equity, and ascertain whether
the claim as set forth by complainants can be sustained.
We cannot declare in advance that there is no equity in the
pretensions set up by complainants, as the act of 1824 imposes on
us the duty "to hear and determine all questions arising in the
cause relative to the title of the claimants" -- that is to say, in
all cases where the title was not perfect according to the laws of
Spain when our government acquired Louisiana, and by a final decree
to settle and determine the question of validity of title. And this
must be done regardless of the fact whether the equity set up be
weak or strong in our judgment.
In the
Case of Reynes, there was a perfect and formal
Spanish grant set forth by complainant and admitted to exist as set
forth by the United States, and the only question was whether
jurisdiction in the Spanish government was wanting over the
Page 52 U. S. 581
country where the land lies at the time the grant bears date. No
question arose on the face of that title, but on the extraneous
fact that the land lay beyond the Spanish jurisdiction. The cases
are widely different.
4. It was earnestly insisted in argument that this claim is
barred because it had not been recorded as prescribed by Congress.
And as this question is prominently presented in the record and has
been fully examined, it is deemed proper to decide it.
By the first section of the Act of 26 March, 1804, 1 Land Laws
112,
"All that portion of country ceded by France to the United
States under the name of Louisiana which lies south of the
Mississippi Territory and of an east and west line to commence on
the Mississippi River at the thirty-third degree of north latitude
and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession,
shall constitute a territory of the United States under the name of
the Territory of Orleans."
The limits to the east from the Mississippi River extended to
the Perdido, that river having been claimed by the United States as
the boundary of Louisiana on the east from the execution of the
treaty of cession.
By the Act of 2 March, 1805, 1 Land Laws, 122, "An act for
ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to land within the
Territory of Orleans and District of Louisiana," the Territory of
Orleans was to be laid off into two districts in such manner as the
President should direct, in each of which he should appoint a
register, who, together with two other persons to be by him also
appointed, should be commissioners for the purpose of ascertaining
the rights of persons claiming under any French or Spanish grant or
under the first two sections of the act. The first section applies
to claims under any duly registered warrant or order of survey
obtained from the French or Spanish government. The second applied
to persons who, with permission of the proper Spanish officer and
in conformity with the laws, usages, and customs of the Spanish
government, had made an actual settlement on a tract of land not
claimed by virtue of the preceding section.
The act further provides that every person claiming lands by
virtue of any legal French or Spanish grant made and completed
before 1 October, 1800, may, and every person claiming lands by
virtue of the first two sections of the act, or by virtue of any
grant or incomplete title bearing date subsequent to 1 October,
1800, shall, before 1 March, 1806, deliver a notice to the register
stating his claims, together with a plat, and deliver to the
register for the purpose of being recorded every grant, order of
survey, deed, conveyance,
Page 52 U. S. 582
or other written evidence of his claim, provided that where
lands are claimed by virtue of a complete French or Spanish grant,
it shall not be necessary to have any other evidence recorded
except the original grant or patent, and the warrant, or order of
survey, and the plat, but the other evidence should be deposited
with the register;
"and if such person shall neglect to deliver such notice in
writing of his claim, together with a plat as aforesaid, or cause
to be recorded such written evidence of the same, all his right, so
far as the same is derived from the two first sections of this act,
shall become void, and thereafter forever be barred, nor shall any
incomplete grant, warrant, or order of survey, deed of conveyance,
or other written evidence which shall not be recorded as above
directed, ever after be considered or admitted as evidence in any
court of the United States against any grant derived from the
United States."
This last provision does not apply to complete titles, as
Caminada's assumed to be, but to claims under incomplete titles,
and claims arising from possession and cultivation under the first
and second sections of the act.
It is not very clear what was comprehended within the limits
fixed by the President as the Eastern District. In a letter from
the Secretary of the Treasury to the register at New Orleans dated
30 March, 1805, 2 Land Laws 666, it is said, "for the present, all
that part of the territory which lies east of the Mississippi,"
together with certain parishes on the west bank, will belong to the
eastern division.
By the third section of the Act of 21 April, 1806, supplementary
to the act of 1805, 1 Land Laws 139, the time fixed for delivering
notices and evidences of claims is extended to 1 January, 1807, but
the rights of persons neglecting shall be barred, and the evidences
of their claims never afterwards admitted as evidence, in the same
manner as had been provided by the fourth section of the act of
1805.
This provision therefore only applied to incomplete titles and
claims under possession and cultivation, and not to complete
grants.
By the fifth section of the Act of 3 March, 1807, 1 Land Laws,
153, "An act respecting claims to land in the territories of
Orleans and Louisiana," the time for delivering notices and
evidences of claims was further extended till 1 July, 1808, but the
rights of persons neglecting, "so far as they are derived from, or
founded on, any act of Congress," shall ever after be barred and
become void, and the evidence of their claims never afterwards be
admitted as evidence in any court
Page 52 U. S. 583
of law or equity whatever. This provision also, it will be seen,
did not touch complete grants.
By the Act of 23 April, 1812, "An act giving further time for
registering claims to land in the Eastern District of Louisiana,"
persons actual settlers on the land which they claimed were allowed
until 1 November, 1813, to deliver notices and evidences of their
claims, with the same provision as to neglect as in the act of
1807.
Complete grants were therefore still untouched.
It is proper here to mention that in the summer of 1810, a
number of citizens of the United States who had removed to the
neighborhood of Bayou Sarah took the fort of Baton Rouge from the
Spanish authorities and, in a convention which afterwards met,
declared their independence and framed a Constitution.
Upon receiving information that the Spanish troops had been
driven from Baton Rouge, Mr. Madison, then President, issued a
proclamation on 16 October, 1810, setting forth that the territory
south of the thirty-first degree of north latitude east of the
Mississippi as far as the Perdido, of which possession had not yet
been delivered to the United States, had ever been considered
claimed by them as part of the country they had acquired by the
treaty of 1803. He therefore announced that he had deemed it right
and necessary that possession should be immediately taken of the
said territory in the name and behalf of the United States, and the
Governor of the Territory of Orleans was directed to carry the
views of the United States into execution. Governor Claiborne
accordingly did so, and on 7 December, 1810, hoisted the flag of
the United States at St. Francisville without opposition, and
announced the event by a proclamation, and subsequently established
in this new part of the Territory of Orleans the Parishes of
Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Biloxi, and
Pascagoula.
No attempt was made to occupy the Town of Mobile nor any part of
the country around it, and the Spanish garrison of Fort Charlotte
was left undisturbed; Governor Claiborne having been specially
instructed not to take possession by force of any post in which the
Spaniards had a garrison, however small it might be.
By an Act of 12 February, 1813, the President was authorized to
occupy and hold all that tract of country called West Florida not
now in possession of the United States. 3 Stat. 472.
In pursuance of this act, possession was taken by order of the
President, the Governor of Louisiana having done so by the
President's directions.
Page 52 U. S. 584
These proceedings having placed the United States in the actual
possession of West Florida as far as Mobile, Congress on 25 April,
1812, passed "An act for ascertaining the titles and claims to
lands in that part of Louisiana which lies east of the River
Mississippi and island of New Orleans." 1 Land Laws 208. By the
first section of this act, it is enacted that for the purpose of
ascertaining the titles and claims to land in that tract of country
which lies south of the Mississippi Territory, east of the River
Mississippi and Island of New Orleans and west of the River Perdido
and a line drawn with the general course thereof to the southern
boundary of the Mississippi Territory, the lands within the said
limits shall be laid off into land districts between which Pearl
River shall be the boundary, and for each of which districts a
commissioner shall be appointed.
By the fourth section, it is enacted that every person claiming
lands in the said tract of country by virtue of any grant, order of
survey, or other evidence of claim whatsoever derived from the
French, British, or Spanish governments shall deliver to the
commissioner a notice in writing, stating the nature and extent of
his claim, together with a plat, and shall deliver to the
commissioner, for the purpose of being recorded, every grant, order
of survey, deed, conveyance, or other written evidence of his
claim, and the same shall be recorded.
"Provided that where lands are claimed by virtue of a complete
French, British, or Spanish grant, it shall not be necessary for
the claimant to have any other evidence of his claim entered at
large on the record except the original grant or patent, together
with the order of survey and the plat; all the other conveyances or
deeds may be abbreviated in the entry, but the chain of title and
the date of every transfer shall appear on the record. And if such
person shall neglect to deliver such notice in writing of his
claim, together with the plat in case the lands claimed shall have
been surveyed as aforesaid, or cause to be recorded such written
evidence of the same within the time and times as aforesaid, his
claim shall never after be recognized or confirmed by the United
States; nor shall any grant, order of survey, deed, conveyance, or
other written evidence, which shall not be recorded as above
directed, ever after be considered or admitted as evidence in any
court of the United States against any grant which may hereafter be
derived from the United States."
The plain meaning of this provision is that no Spanish claim not
recorded shall be evidence in cases where the same land has been
granted by the United States, and a contest arises between the two
grants.
Page 52 U. S. 585
This act, it is apprehended, is the first provision under which
the grant to Caminada could have been brought forward, as at the
time of its passage, the United States had come into actual
possession of the country where the islands are situated.
By the Act of 18 April, 1814, supplementary to the act of 1812,
the time for delivering notices and evidences of claim was extended
to 1 September 1814. 1 Land Laws 247.
The Act of 3 March, 1819, "An act for adjusting the claims to
land and establishing land offices in the districts east of the
Island of New Orleans," confirms claims reported under the act of
1812, and confers on the registers and receivers of Jackson
Courthouse and St. Helena Courthouse the same powers as the
commissioners east and west of Pearl River had. By the sixth
section it is declared that every person claiming land whose claims
had not before been filed
"shall be allowed until 1 July, 1820, to deliver notices in
writing and the evidences of their claims to the register of the
land office at Jackson Courthouse and at St. Helena Courthouse, and
the notices and evidences so delivered within the time limited by
this act shall be recorded in the same manner as if the same had
been delivered before the commissioners closed their said
registers."
By the Act of 24 May, 1828, "An act supplementary to the several
acts providing for the adjustment of land claims in the State of
Mississippi," it is provided that claimants of lands within that
part of the limits of the land district of Jackson Courthouse below
the thirty-first degree of north latitude, whose claims had been
presented to the commissioners or to the register or receiver under
the act of 3 March, 1819, which had not been reported to Congress,
or had not been presented to the said commissioners or register and
receiver, were allowed to 1 January, 1829, to present their titles
and claims to the register and receiver at Jackson Courthouse,
whose powers and duties shall be, in relation to the same, governed
by the provisions of the acts before recited, and of the Act of 8
May, 1822.
Although the act of 1812 is not directly cited in the act of
1828, yet it was meant to be included, as it was under that act
that the first commissioners were appointed. The register and
receiver were appointed under the act of 1819. Neither the act of
1812 nor any succeeding act barred a claim to land not surveyed and
sold by the United States, and, Ship and Deer Islands remaining
unsold, the claim before us stands unaffected by the legislation of
Congress. That such was the obvious understanding of Congress when
the act of 1824 was passed, under which we are exercising
jurisdiction, appears by
Page 52 U. S. 586
the eleventh section of the act. It protects purchasers under
the United States, but not the government itself, as to any lands
not surveyed and sold.
But aside from this consideration, for the reasons previously
stated, we adjudge the claim to be invalid, and order the petition
to be
Dismissed.
Order
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of Mississippi, and was argued by counsel. On
consideration whereof, it is now here ordered, adjudged, and
decreed by this Court that the decree of the said district court in
this cause be and the same is hereby reversed and annulled, and
that this cause be and the same is hereby remanded to the said
district court with directions to dismiss the petition of the
claimants.