Colin Mitchel v. United States

• Decision Date: 01 January 1841
• Parties: COLIN MITCHEL and others, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellees
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

40 U.S. 52

15 Pet. 52

10 L.Ed. 658

COLIN MITCHEL and others, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellees.

January Term, 1841

APPEAL from the Superior Court of the Middle District of Florida. In the supreme court, at January term 1835 (9 Pet. 711), the case of Colin Mitchell and others, appellants, against the United States, was argued and determined, on an appeal from the superior court of East Florida. It was a claim to lands in East Florida, the title to which was derived from grants from the Creek and Seminole Indians, ratified by the authorities of Spain, before the cession of Florida to the United States. The claim was confirmed by the court, with the exception of so much of the tract surveyed between the rivers Wakulla and St. Marks, conveyed to John Forbes &amp Company, in 1811, as included the fortress of St. Marks, and the territory directly and immediately adjacent and appurtenant thereto; which was reserved to the United States.

On the 30th day of January 1836, Collin Mitchel and others, the appellants in the supreme court, filed in the superior court of Middle Florida, the decree and mandate of the supreme court, as follows:

'This cause came on to be heard, on the transcript of the record from the superior court for the middle district of Florida, and was argued by counsel; on full consideration whereof, this court is unanimously of opinion, that the title of the petitioners to so much of the lands in controversy, as is embraced within the lines and boundaries of the tract granted by the deeds, grants and acts of confirmation, to Panton, Leslie & Co., in 1804 and 1806; also to the island in the river Appalachicola, ceded, granted and confirmed to John Forbes, in 1811; also the lands and islands at and west of the mouth of said river, which were ceded, granted and confirmed to John Forbes & Co., in 1811, is valid, by the law of nations, the treaty between the United States and Spain, by which the territory of the Floridas were ceded to the former, the laws and ordinances of Spain, under whose government the title originated, the proceedings under said treaty and the acts of congress relating thereto; and do finally order, decree and determine and adjudge accordingly. And this court doth, in like manner, order, adjudge, determine and decree, that the title of the petitioner to so much of the tract of land which lies east of the first-mentioned tract, between the rivers Wakulla and St. Marks, which was conveyed to John Forbes & Co., in 1811, as shall not be included in the exception hereinafter made, is valid by the laws, treaty and proceedings as aforesaid; with the exception of so much of the last-mentioned tract as includes the fortress St. Marks, and the territory directly and immediately adjacent and appurtenant thereto, which are hereby reserved for the use of the United States. And it is further ordered and decreed, that the territory thus described, shall be that which was ceded by the Indian proprietors to the crown of Spain, for the purpose of erecting the said fort, provided the boundaries of the said cession can be ascertained. If the boundaries of the said cession cannot now be ascertained, then the adjacent lands which were considered and held by the Spanish government, or the commandant of the post, as annexed to the fortress for military purposes, shall be still considered as annexed to it, and reserved with it, for the use of the United States. If no evidence can now be obtained to designate the extent of the adjacent lands, which were considered as annexed to St. Marks as aforesaid; then so much land shall be comprehended in this exception, as according to military usage, was attached generally to forts in Florida, or the adjacent colonies. If no such military usage can be proved, then it is ordered and decreed, that a line shall be extended from the point of junction between the rivers St. Marks and Wakulla, to the middle of the river St. Marks, below the junction, thence extending up the middle of each river three miles in a direct line, without computing the courses thereof; and that the territory comprehended within a direct line, to be run so as to connect the points of termination on each river, at the end of the said three miles up each river; and the two lines to be run as aforesaid, shall be and the same are hereby declared to be the territory reserved as adjacent and appurtenant to the fortress of St. Marks, and as such reserved for the use of the United States; to which the claim of the petitioner is rejected; and as to which, this court decree that the same is a part of the public lands of the United States. The decree of the court below is, therefore, reversed and annulled in all matters and things therein contained, with the exception aforesaid; and this court, proceeding to render such decree as said court ought to have rendered, do order, adjudge and decree, that the claim of the petitioner is valid, and ought to be confirmed, and is and remains confirmed by the treaty, laws and proceedings aforesaid, to all the lands embraced therein, except such part as is herein above excepted. And this court does further order, adjudge and decree, that the clerk of this court certify the same to the surveyor-general of Florida, pursuant to law, with directions to survey and lay off the land described in the petition of the claimants, according to the lines, boundaries and description thereof in the several deeds of cession, grant and confirmation by the Indians, or governor of West Florida, filed as exhibits in this cause, or referred to in the record thereof, excepting, nevertheless, such part of the tract granted in 1811, lying east of the tract granted in 1804 and 1806, as is hereby declared to be the territory of the United States, pursuant to the exception hereinbefore mentioned; and to make return thereof according to law, as to all the lands comprehended in the three first herein-mentioned tracts. And as to the tract last herein mentioned, to survey in like manner, lay off the same, so soon as the extent of land herein excepted and reserved for the use of the United States, shall be ascertained in the manner hereinbefore directed. And this court doth further order, adjudge and direct, that the extent and boundaries of the land thus excepted and reserved, shall be ascertained and determined by the superior court of the middle district of Florida, in such manner, and by such process, as is prescribed by the acts of congress relating to the claims of lands in Florida, and to render thereupon such judgment or decree, as to law shall appertain.'

Subsequently, Colin Mitchel and others filed a bill in the said court, wherein they claimed the lands to the walls of the fort of St. Marks, on all sides; and prayed confirmation thereof to the said walls of the fort as aforesaid, to be held, as it was, under the dominion of Spain, according to the treaty of cession, and the proceedings under it in other cases. On the 14th of February 1838, they filed an amended petition in the same court, in which they asserted the fee in the land on which the fort of St. Marks was erected, to have been and still to be in themselves, whilst they admitted the right of the government of the United States, for the purposes of a fort; and they, therefore, prayed that the fee of the land covered by the fort, as well as that adjoining and appurtenant, should be decreed to them, whilst the use thereof, for the purposes of a fort, might be reserved, by a decree of that court, to the government of the United States.

On the 14th of February 1838, the attorney of the United States for the district of Middle Florida, filed his answer to the bill and amended petition; in which, although he denied the facts and allegations therein set forth, he alleged, on the part of the United States, that the matters which were to be ascertained and decided by the court, did not arise out of said petition and amended petition, and that it should not be governed or regulated in the investigations to be made thereby; that the power and authority of the court to hold cognisance of the case, after their former final decree therein, was not in anywise founded upon the filing of said petition, but entirely and exclusively derived from, and founded upon, the decree of the supreme court of the United States, at January term 1835; by and in which the court were directed to ascertain certain questions of fact; and the said petition and amended petition being, therefore, supererogatory, it was not necessary for the said United States of America to finally answer the same, or create any issues of law or fact thereupon. The attorney of the United States, therefore, prayed that the said petition and amended petition might be dismissed; and that the court would proceed to decide the questions referred to it by the supreme court, according to, and in pursuance of, the four alternative rules prescribed in the same, without reference to the petition and amended petition.

On the 30th of June 1838, the superior court for the middle district of Florida decreed, on the proofs taken, and after argument, that the boundaries of the territory ceded by the Indians to Spain, for the purpose of erecting the fortress of St. Marks, could not now be ascertained; that no evidence could now be obtained to designate the extent of the adjacent lands, which were considered as annexed to said fortress, by the crown of Spain, or the commandant of said post. But that there was sufficient evidence of the military usage of Spain, to determine the extent of land adjacent to forts in Florida, which were usually attached to said forts; that the extent of such reservations was determined by a radius of 1500 Castilian varas from the salient angles of the covered way, all round the works, or, there being no covered way, from the salient angles of the exterior line of the ditch. The court, therefore, decreed, that the lands adjacent to the fortress of St. Marks, to be...