The United States, Appellant v. the Heirs of Arredondo, and Others, Appellees

• Decision Date: 01 January 1839
• Citation: 13 Pet. 133,38 U.S. 133,10 L.Ed. 93
• Parties: THE UNITED STATES, APPELLANT, v. THE HEIRS OF F. M. ARREDONDO, AND OTHERS, APPELLEES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

38 U.S. 133

13 Pet. 133

10 L.Ed. 93

THE UNITED STATES, APPELLANT, v. THE HEIRS OF F. M. ARREDONDO, AND OTHERS, APPELLEES.

January Term, 1839

ON appeal from the Superior Court of East Florida.

This case was submitted to the Court by Mr. Grundy, the Attorney General of the United States.

Mr. Justice WAYNE delivered the opinion of the Court.——

This is an appeal from the Superior Court of East Florida, which confirmed the claim of the appellees to a cession or grant of land, made by the governor of Florida to Fernando de la Maza Arredondo.

The concession was made on the 24th March, 1817, for thirty-eight thousand acres of land, in absolute property, without prejudice to a third party, situated on the two banks of a stream which enters the Suwanee river, called Alligator creek, beginning at about seven miles west of an Indian town called Alligatortown, situated north-westwardly about forty miles distant from Payrestown, and about eighty miles from Buena Vesta, which parts of the country are known under the name of Alachua. In the petition for this concession, the petitioner asks, in consideration that the situation and then state of the province did not permit the survey and demarcation of the tract to be made, and also the survey could not be made for want of a surveyor—the surveyor appointed by the government having other occupations, which prevent him from repairing to that part of the province—he asks the governor to suspend the issuing of the title to the property until the plot of the said tract could be obtained; but in the mean time that the grant which the governor might be pleased to give him, by his decree, should serve him as the title thereto; to which the governor responds by declaring, that the titles corresponding to the concession, will be issued to the petitioner as soon as he shall present the plot made by the surveyor; and in the mean time, that his decree shall be 'an equivalent thereof in all its parts; of which a certificate shall be given to the petitioners, authenticated in due form, in order that the petitioner may prove said grant, and enjoy the said lands, and dispose of them as he sees fit.' The authenticity of the petition and concession, is proved by such testimony as this Court has always deemed sufficient for such purpose. It appears also, by documents in the record, which are mentioned in the appellee's petition to the Court for the confirmation of this concession or grant, that after the concession was made, the grantee, for a full and valuable consideration, sold and conveyed this tract of land, and the title in fee to the same was vested in Moses E. Levy, one of the appellees in this cause; and that the said Levy did afterwards by indenture, grant, bargain, and sell, by way of exchange for other lands, the one undivided moiety or half part of said land and its appurtenances, in fee...