Santiago Ainsa v. New Mexico Arizona Railroad Company

• Decision Date: 10 January 1896
• Docket Number: No. 1,1
• Citation: 175 U.S. 76,20 S.Ct. 28,44 L.Ed. 78
• Parties: SANTIAGO AINSA, Administrator, with Will Annexed, of Frank Ely, Deceased, Appt. , v. NEW MEXICO & ARIZONA RAILROAD COMPANY
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

175 U.S. 76

20 S.Ct. 28

44 L.Ed. 78

SANTIAGO AINSA, Administrator, with Will Annexed, of Frank Ely, Deceased, Appt.,

v NEW MEXICO & ARIZONA RAILROAD COMPANY.

No. 1.

Submitted January 10, 1896.

Submission set aside March 30, 1896.

Submitted March 16, 1898.

Decided October 30, 1899.

See same case below, 36 Pac. 213.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

On the submission made January 10, 1896, and afterwards set aside——

On final submission——

Mr. Rochester Ford for appellant.

Mr. William Herring for appellee.

Solicitor General Richards and Mr. Matthew G. Reynolds for United States, by special leave.

Mr. Justice Gray delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a complaint, filed June 1, 1892, in a district court of the territory of Arizona and county of Pima, by Santiago Ainsa, administrator with the will annexed of Frank Ely, against the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad Company, to quiet the plaintiff's title in a tract of land in that county, known as the rancho San Jose de Sonoita, under a grant made by the Mexican government to Leon Herreros on May 15, 1825, which was alleged to have vested a complete and perfect title in fee in the grantee.

The defendant denied the plaintiff's title, and asserted a right of way over the land, under condemnation proceedings against persons who had entered thereon as pre-emption or homestead settlers, claiming that it was public land of the United States.

The parties waived a trial by jury, and submitted the case to the judgment of the court upon an agreed statement of facts, which set forth what was admitted to be a correct translation of the 'title deeds of a grant of one sitio, and three fourths of another sitio, surveyed on behalf of Don Leon Herreros, resident of Tubac, situated in a place called San Jose de Sonoita,'—consisting of the petition of Herreros to the intendente of the province of Sonora and Sinaloa; an order of the intendente for an official survey and valuation of the land; its survey and location by metes and bounds; the delivery of juridical possession to Herreros; a valuation of the land; a reference of the expediente to the promoter fiscal for examination, and his report recommending a sale by auction; a sale by auction to Herreros, after due publication of notice; the intendente's approval of the proceedings; payment by Herreros of the amount of the valuation, with fees and costs; a grant to him by the commissary general in the usual form; and a record of the grant in the Mexican archives. It was agreed that these papers were executed and delivered according to their purport, and that the plaintiff was the vendee and assignee of all the right, title, and interest of Herreros.

It was also agreed that a petition for the confirmation by Congress, under the acts of July 22, 1854, chap. 103, § 8 (10 Stat. at L. 309), and July 15, 1870, chap. 292, § 1 (16 Stat. at L. 304), of the Mexican grant, was filed on December 29, 1879, in the office of the United States surveyor general for the territory of Arizona, but was never acted on by Congress; and that, at the time of the commencement of this suit, no proceedings for the confirmation of the grant were pending before Congress, or before any surveyor general of the United states, or before the court of private land claims created by the act of March 3, 1891, chap. 539. 26 Stat. at L. 854.

It was also agreed that, before the commencement of this suit, certain persons named had entered upon the several tracts of the granted land, as pre-emption or homestead settlers, claiming them to be public lands of the United States; and that thereafter, and before the commencement of this suit, the defendant, by condemnation proceedings against, and mesne conveyances from, those persons, acquired and now claimed a right of way through those tracts and within the limits of the grant.

The parties further stipulated that 'This statement of facts is for the purpose of this suit only, and nothing herein agreed upon shall be taken as admitted for or against either of the parties hereto in any other proceeding whatever.'

The district court held that it had no jurisdiction, because the plaintiff claimed title under a Mexican grant which had not been confirmed by Congress, and therefore dismissed the suit; and its judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the territory. 36 Pac. 213. The plaintiff appealed to this court. the case was originally submitted to this court upon a brief for the appellant only, without any opposing brief. But it was afterwards submitted anew upon the appellant's brief, as well as a brief which the court allowed to be filed in behalf of the United States, because of their interest in the question involved, and of their being a party to a suit involving the validity of the same Mexican grant, brought by the United States against this appellant in the court of private land claims, and since decided by this court and reported. Ely v. United States (1898) 171 U. S. 220, 43 L. ed. 142, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 840.

The question of jurisdiction presented by the record depends upon the effect of the treaty between the United States and Mexico of December 30, 1853 (known as the Gadsden treaty), and of the acts of Congress above cited, and may be conveniently approached by first referring to the decisions of this court under various treaties by which the United States have acquired territory from France, Spain, and Mexico.

Private rights of property in land lying within a territory ceded by one independent nation to another by a treaty between them are not affected by the change of sovereignty and jurisdiction, and are entitled to protection, whether they are complete and absolute titles, or merely equitable interests needing some further act of the government to perfect the legal title. The duty of securing such rights, and of fulfilling the obligations imposed upon the United States by the treaty, belongs to the political department; and Congress may either itself discharge that duty, or delegate its performance to a strictly judicial tribunal or to a board of commissioners. United States v. Percheman (1833) 7 Pet. 51, 86, 87, 8 L. ed. 604, 617; Delassus v. United States (1835) & Pet. 117. 133, 9 L. ed. 71, 77; Strother v. Lucas (1838) 12 Pet. 410, 438, 9 L. ed. 1137, 1148; Astiazaran v. Santa Rita Land & Min. Co. (1893) 148 U. S. 80-82, 37 L. ed. 376, 377, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 457, and cases there cited; Stoneroad v. Stoneroad (1895) 158 U. S. 240, 248, 39 L. ed. 966, 968, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 822; Rio Arriba Land & Cattle Co. v. United States (1897) 167 U. S. 298, 309, 42 L. ed. 175, 178, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 875. As was said by this court, speaking by Mr. Justice Trimble, in a leading case: 'It may be admitted that the United States were bound, in good faith, by the terms of the treaty of cession by which they acquired the Floridas, to confirm such concessions as had been made by warrants of survey; yet it would not follow that the legal title would be perfected until confirmation. The government of the United States has throughout acted upon a different principle in relation to these inchoate rights, in all its acquisitions of territory, whether from Spain or France. While the government has admitted its obligation to confirm such inchoate rights or concessions as had been fairly made, it has maintained that the legal title remained in the United States until, by some act of confirmation, it was passed or relinquished to the claimants. It has maintained its right to prescribe the forms and manner of proceeding in order to obtain a confirmation, and its right to establish tribunals to investigate and pronounce upon their fairness and validity.' De la Croix v. Chamberlain (1827), 12 Wheat. 599, 601, 6 L. ed. 741, 742. Even grants which were complete and perfect at the time of the cession may be required by Congress to have their genuineness and their extent established by proceedings in a particular manner before they can be held to be valid. But where no such proceedings are expressly required by Congress, the recognition of grants of this class in the treaty itself is sufficient to give them full effect.

The treaty of April 30, 1803, between the United States and the French Republic, by which the province of Louisiana was ceded to the United States, provided, in article 3, as follows: 'The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess.' 8 Stat. at L. 202. By the act of March 2, 1805, chap. 26, § 1, it was provided that persons who before October 1, 1800, being of full age and actually inhabiting and cultivating lands within the territories ceded by that treaty, had obtained a 'duly registered warrant or order of survey' from the Spanish or French government while in possession of those territories, should 'be confirmed in their claims to such lands in the same manner as if their titles had been completed.' Section 4 provided that before March 1, 1806, persons claiming lands by virtue of a completed grant might file it, and persons claiming under an incomplete title should file all papers relating to it, with the register of the local land office. And by § 8 commissioners were to be appointed by the President, with power to hear evidence and to decide in a summary way upon the validity of the claims, and to report to Congress all claims confirmed or rejected, and with the latter the evidence adduced in their support. 2 Stat. at L. 324-327. The act of March 26, 1824, chap. 173, enacted that it should 'be lawful for any person' claiming lands in the state of Missouri 'by virtue of any French or Spanish grant, concession, warrant, or order...