The United States, Appellants v. Charles Fossatt

• Decision Date: 01 December 1858
• Citation: 21 How. 445,62 U.S. 445,16 L.Ed. 185,16 L.Ed. 186
• Parties: THE UNITED STATES, APPELLANTS, v. CHARLES FOSSATT
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

62 U.S. 445

21 How. 445

16 L.Ed. 185

16 L.Ed. 186

THE UNITED STATES, APPELLANTS, v. CHARLES FOSSATT.

December Term, 1858

THIS was an appeal from the District Court of the United States for the northern district of California.

It was the same case which was before this court at the preceding term, and is reported in 20 Howard, 413. The position of the case is explained in the second opinion of the court, as delivered by Mr. Justice Campbell.

Being so down upon the docket as that there was no probability of reaching it in the regular order of business, a motion was made to take it up out of its regular turn. This motion was argued by Mr. Bayard and Mr. Nelson in favor of it, and by Mr. Black against it.

Mr. Black (Attorney General) remarked, that he could not say that the public business of the Government was obstructed in consequence of the pendency of this appeal.

Upon this motion, Mr. Chief Justice TANEY delivered the opinion of the court.

According to the rules and practice of the court, no case can be taken up out of its order on the docket, where private interests only are concerned. The only cases in which they will depart from this rule are those where the question in dispute will embarrass the operations of the Government while it remains unsettled. But when a case is sent to the court below by a mandate from this court, no appeal will lie from any order or decision of the court until it has passed its final decree in the case. And if the court does not proceed to execute the mandate, or disobeys and mistakes its meaning, the party aggrieved may, by motion for a mandamus, at any time, bring the errors or omissions of the inferior court before this court for correction. Upon looking into the record in the case of United States v. Fossatt, the court doubt whether there has been a final decision under the mandate, and whether the present appeal ought not to be dismissed on that ground. If there is no final decree, the proceedings of the court below cannot be interrupted by an appeal from interlocutory proceedings.

The court therefore desire to hear the counsel upon the question, whether the decree in question is final, upon motion to dismiss, and will hear the argument on Monday, March 7th.

When the case came up again, the motion to dismiss the appeal, because the judgment of the court below was not final, was argued by Mr. Bayard and Mr. Nelson in support thereof, and by Mr. Black (Attorney General) and Mr. Reverdy Johnson in opposition thereto.

Mr. Justice CAMPBELL delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause came before this court by appeal from the District Court of the United States for the northern district of California, and was decided at the last term, and is reported in 20 How., 413.

The court determined:

'That a grant under which the plaintiff claimed land in California was valid for one league, to be taken within the southern western, and eastern boundaries designated therein, at the election of the grantee and his assigns, under the restrictions established for the location and survey of private land claims in California by the executive department of the Government. The external boundaries of the grant may be declared by the District Court from the evidence on file, and such other evidence as may be produced before it; and the claim of an interest equal to three-fourths of the land granted is confirmed to the appellee.'

The District Court, in conformity with the directions of the decree, declared the external lines on three sides of the tract claimed, leaving the other line to be completed by a survey to be made. From the decree, in this form, the United States have appealed.

A motion has been submitted to the court for the dismissal of the appeal, because the decree of the District Court is interlocutory, not final.

This motion is resisted, because the inquiries and decrees of the board of commissioners for the settlement of private land claims in California, by the act of 3d March, 1851, (9 S. at L., 632,) in the first instance, and of the courts of the United States on appeal, relate only to the question of the validity of the claim—and by validity is meant its authenticity, legality, and in some cases interpretation, but does not include any question of location, extent, or boundary—and that the District Court has gone to the full limit of its jurisdiction in the decree under consideration, if it has not already exceeded it.

The matter submitted by Congress to the inquiry and determination of the board of commissioners, by the act of 3d March, 1851, (9 Stat. at Large, 632, sec. 8,) and to the courts of the United States on appeal, by that act and the act of 31st August, 1852, (10 Stat. at Large, 99, sec. 12,) are the claims 'of each and every person in California, by virtue of any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican Government.' And it will be at once understood that these comprehend all private claims to land in California.

The effect of the inquiry and decision of these tribunals upon the matter submitted is final and conclusive. If unfavorable to the claimant, the land 'shall be deemed, held, and considered, as a part of the public domain of the United States;' but if favorable, the decrees rendered by the commissioners or the courts 'shall be conclusive between the United States and the claimants.'

These acts of Congress do not create a voluntary jurisdiction, that the claimant may seek or decline. All claims to land that are withheld from the board of commissioners during the legal term for presentation, are treated as non-existent, and the land as belonging to the public domain.

Thus it appears that the right and title of the inhabitants of California, at the date of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, to land within its limits, with the exception of some within the limits of a pueblo or corporation described in the 14th section of the act of 3d March, 1851, must undergo the scrutiny of this board, and that its decisions are subject to review in the District...