United States v. Chaves

Decision Date11 November 1895
Docket NumberNo. 196,196
PartiesUNITED STATES v. CHAVES et al
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

This is an appeal on behalf of the United States from a decree of the court of private land claims, made on the 26th day of September, 1892, in the matter of the claim for certain lands in Valencia county, N. M., commonly called the 'Cubero Land Grant.'

The case as presented in the pleadings is as follows:

It is claimed by the petitioners that in the year 1833 the republic of Mexico, by Francisco Sarricino, the governor of the territory of New Mexico, granted to Juan Chaves and about 60 others, 'and to the town of Cubero, whose establishment and incorporation were intended and declared by the terms of said grant,' a tract of land now situated in the county of Valencia, N. M.

The description of the land as claimed is set out in the petition, and is there said to contain about 11 square leagues.

They allege the loss and destruction of said grant and the testimonio as a reason for not being able to state accurately its date or the description of the land or the act of possession.

They allege: That the chief alcalde of that jurisdiction did, during the same year, put them in possession, but they are unable to state who was the alcalde or what the date was of such delivery of possession.

That the petitioners are the heirs and legal representatives of the original grantees, except Juan Antonio Duran, who is the only survivor of such grantees.

That they are now in possession and occupation of said land, claiming under said grant.

That said grant was unconditional, except so far as the colonization law imposed conditions.

They charge that, preliminarily to the making of the said grant, the said governor required the parties petitioning first to purchase certain improvements which had been made upon the said land by one Francisco Baca, a Navajo Indian chief, who had been residing on the tract by permission of the government.

That they did purchase of said Indian chief the said improvements, which said Indian chief relinquished to them and vacated the land.

That, said preliminary conditions having been performed, the governor and chief alcalde delivered to the grantees a duplicate of the granting decree and of the act of jurisdical possession, and placed the originals of said decree and act in the Mexican archives at Santa F e.

They allege that said originals, although once in the custody of the defendant (the United States) after the solemnization of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, were wrongfully and negligently destroyed or lost by the defendant.

That the duplicates were intrusted by the grantees to Juan Chaves, one of their number, and he kept them until his death, in 1846. Since his death they have not been found, and plaintiffs aver that they were stolen and carried away and destroyed or lost by one Vicente Margarito Hernandez.

They charge that, the original grant papers having been lost, a controversy arose between the petitioners and the pueblo of Laguna in the year 1841, and in that controversy the boundary line on the side next to Laguna was fixed and adjusted.

The allege that the grant was made to the inhabitants of Cubero at that time for the purpose of establishing a town thereon, and that since that time they have been in possession of the whole of the ground.

The answer of the United States puts in issue all of the allegations of the petition.

It denies that there was ever a grant made by the governor of New Mexico to the alleged grantees, as alleged in the petition.

It denies that the alleged testimonio of said grant was ever lost or destroyed, and that the possession of said plaintiffs or any of them was derived by the act of ant official of the Mexican government authorized by the laws of Mexico to grant or deliver the same.

It denies that the duplicate of the alleged granting decree and act of possession was ever delivered by the governor or chief alcalde to the alleged grantees, or was ever placed by the governor among the Mexican archives of Santa F e.

It avers that, if a grant was made to the alleged grantees for the purpose of establishing a town, the conditions imposed by law have never been complied with, and therefore they are not entitled to confirmation under the act creating the court of private land claims.

That a large portion of said grant had been disposed of by the United States to the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company, and that it was a necessary party defendant; and a misjoinder of parties was pleaded.

On August 29, 1892, the court entered a decree confirming the grant, and denying the right of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company to intervene, except so far as its right of way was concerned, which right was admitted by the plaintiffs, from which decree an appeal was taken by the United States.

Matt. G. Reynolds and Holmes Conrad, Sol. Gen., for the United states.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

It is provided in the ninth section of the act of March 3, 1891, establishing the court of private land claims, that, upon any appeal from such court, 'the supreme court shall retry the cause, as well the issues of fact as or law, and may cause testimony to be taken in addition to that given in the court below, and may amend the record of the proceedings below as truth and justice may require; and on such retrial and hearing every question shall be open.'

The present case has been submitted to us on the record of the court below, containing the pleadings, the evidence, and the decree.

The decree finds as follows: 'That the complainants are citizens of the United States and residents of the county of Valencia, in the territory of New Mexico; that in the year 1833 a colony grant of the lands in controversy was made by the proper authority of the republic of Mexico, through the governor of the territory of New Mexico, Francisco Sarricino to Juan Chaves and sixty-one others, for the purpose of colonizing the place of Cubero, and that said colonization was had and made; that the title to the land in controversy in this cause is derived from the republic of Mexico, and was complete and perfect at the date when the United States acquired sovereignty in the territory of New Mexico, within which this land was situated; that the said complainants are in the possession of the said land embraced within the calls of the said grant, and claim the ecessors in right have been in the possession in right have been in the possession of the same since the issuance of the grant by the Mexican government, and that complainants have such a claim and interest in the land as gives them a right to apply to the court for a confirmation of their title; that the lands claimed embraced an area of about 16,000 acres, but the exact area cannot be stated, as the same has never been surveyed; that the intervener, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company, has no right in or to the real estate and lands included within said grant, except to its right of way for its railroad track as now laid down and operated through and across said lands, which right of way was conceded to said railroad company by said complainants on the trial of the cause.'

If these findings of fact are sustained by the evidence in the record, the decree of the court below, adjudging the title and claim of the complainants to be good and valid, and confirming the same in them, their heirs, sucessors, and assigns, should be affirmed.

The act provides that all proceedings subsequent to the petition shall be 'conducted as near as may be according to the practice of courts of equity of the United States; * * * and that, by a final decree, the court shall settle and determine the question of the validity of the title and the boundaries of the grant or claim presented for adjudication, according to the law of nations, the stipulations of the treaty between the United States and the republic of Mexico in 1848, and the treaty between the same powers in 1853, and the laws and ordinances of the government from which it is alleged to have been derived.'

The first rule of decision thus laid down by congress for our guidance is that we are to have regard to the law of nations; and as to this it is sufficient to say that it is the usage of the civilized nations of the world, when territory is ceded, to stipulate for the property of its inhabitants. Henderson v. Poindexter's Lessee, 12 Wheat. 535; U. S. v. Arredondo, 6 Pet. 712; U. S. v. Ritchie, 17 How. 525.

We adopt the language of Chief Justice Marshall in the case of U. S. v. Percheman, 7 Pet. 51, 86, as follows: 'It may not be unworthy of remark that it is very unusual, even in cases of conquest, for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign, and assume dominion over the country. The modern usage of nations, which has become law, would be violated, that sense of justice and of right which is acknowledged and felt by the whole civilized world would be outraged, if private property should be generally confiscated and private rights annulled. The people change their allegiance; their relation to their ancient sovereign is dissolved; but their relations to each other and their rights of property remain undisturbed. If this be the modern rule, even in cases of conquest, who can doubt its application to the case of an amicable cession of territory?'

We are next directed to consider the stipulations of the treaties between the two governments. The provisions of the treaty of 1848 relevant to the present subject are contained in its eighth article (9 Stat. 929), and we find that they declare that 'Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside, * * * retaining the property which they possess in said territories. * * * In...

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