Pueblo of Picuris in State of New Mexico v. Abeyta
| Decision Date | 22 May 1931 |
| Docket Number | No. 444.,444. |
| Citation | 50 F.2d 12 |
| Parties | PUEBLO OF PICURIS IN STATE OF NEW MEXICO v. ABEYTA et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
R. H. Hanna and Fred E. Wilson, both of Albuquerque, N. M., for appellant.
Wm. J. Barker and Charles Fahy, both of Santa Fé, N. M., and Floyd W. Beutler, of Taos, N. M., for appellees.
Before LEWIS, PHILLIPS, and McDERMOTT, Circuit Judges.
Section 1 of the Pueblo Lands Act (43 Stat. 636 25 USCA § 331 note) provides:
"That in order to quiet title to various lots, parcels, and tracts of land in the State of New Mexico for which claim shall be made by or on behalf of the Pueblo Indians of said State as hereinafter provided, the United States of America, in its sovereign capacity as guardian of said Pueblo Indians shall, by its Attorney General, file in the District Court of the United States for the District of New Mexico, its bill or bills of complaint with a prayer for discovery of the nature of any claim or claims of any kind whatsoever adverse to the claim of said Pueblo Indians, as hereinafter determined."
In compliance with this section, the Attorney General brought this action in the name of the United States as guardian of the Indians of the Pueblo of Picuris. The decision in the court below was adverse to the United States as to a portion of the lands in controversy. The Attorney General declined to appeal from said decision, although urged to do so by the pueblo. Thereupon the pueblo filed its petition for appeal, alleging that it is a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New Mexico, and a community of Pueblo Indians, and the owner in fee simple, under a grant from the King of Spain, of the lands in controversy. The petition for appeal alleges that the pueblo was advised that it had no right to intervene in said suit, and did not in fact intervene, but that it did co-operate with the Attorney General in the trial of said cause, and that it is the party beneficially interested in the determination thereof. The trial court declined to allow the appeal, the petitioner not being a party to the litigation; the appeal was allowed by a Circuit Judge for the purpose of permitting the matter to be presented to this court. The appellees now move to dismiss the appeal.
It was held, prior to the enactment of the Pueblo Lands Act, that the pueblo was a juristic person, able to sue and defend with respect to its land. Lane v. Pueblo of Santa Rosa, 249 U. S. 110, 39 S. Ct. 185, 63 L. Ed. 504. Any decree or judgment rendered in an action brought by or against such pueblo did not, however, bind the United States in its sovereign capacity as guardian of such Indians, and was not therefore res judicata in another action involving the same controversy brought by the United States. United States v. Candelaria, 271 U. S. 432, 46 S. Ct. 561, 70 L. Ed. 1023. Section 4 of the Pueblo Lands Act (43 Stat. 637 25 USCA § 331 note) preserves the "existing right of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico to assert and maintain unaffected by the provisions of this Act their title and right to any land by original proceedings, either in law or equity, in any court of competent jurisdiction and any such right may be asserted at any time prior to the filing of the field notes and plats as provided in section 13 hereof, and jurisdiction with respect to any such original proceedings is hereby conferred upon the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico with right of review as in ...
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