United States v. Coronado Beach Co

Decision Date28 March 1921
Docket NumberNos. 524 and 525,s. 524 and 525
PartiesUNITED STATES v. CORONADO BEACH CO. (two cases)
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Garnett, for the United States.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 473-482 intentionally omitted]

Page 482

Mr. Peter F. Dunne, of San Francisco, Cal., for Coronado Beach Co.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 482-485 intentionally omitted]

Page 485

Mr. Justice HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.

These cases arise out of a proceeding brought by the United States under the Act of July 27, 1917, c. 42, 40 Stat. 247 (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 1867ddd), for the double purpose of ascertaining the rights of private parties in North Island in the harbor of San Diego, California, and of condemning the whole of said island for public purposes after the value of such rights has been fixed and paid into Court. The proceeding was begun by a bill in equity against the Coronado Beach Company. In its answer that Company alleged title to the whole island, and after a hearing obtained a decree in its favor, subject to the question of the rights of the United States brought up by the appeal in No. 525. The case then was transferred to the law side, the value of the plaintiff's island was assessed by a jury, and a judgment was entered that upon payment of $5,000,000 into Court within thirty days the United States might have a final order of condemnation. The writ of error in 524 presents the questions raised in this stage of the case.

The title of the Coronado Beach Company is derived from a Mexican grant of May 15, 1846, to one Carillo, a Mexican citizen, the Company having succeeded to his rights. At this point it is necessary to mention only that Carillo is given the right to enclose the land 'without prejudice to the crossings, roads, and servitudes.' The grant was under a law of August 18, 1824, by the fifth

Page 486

section of which——

'If, for the defence or security of the nation, the Federal Government should find it expedient to make use of any portion of these lands for the purpose of constructing warehouses, arsenals, or other public edifices, it may do so, with the approbation of the General Congress, or during its recess with that of the Government Council.' Hall, Laws of Mexico, 148, § 492.

The United States interprets this as a reservation of power against all persons, as one of the servitudes to which the Carillo grant was subject, and as a sovereign right to which it succeeded when the land became territory of the United States. We cannot accept so broad an interpretation. We need not repeat the discussion in Arguello v. United States, 18 How. 539, 15 L. Ed. 478, wherein it was laid down that the first eight sections apply wholly to colonists and foreigners. The decision immediately concerned the fourth section of the law, but the ground for the construction given to it was that the others obviously were limited as stated and that there was no reason for giving to the fourth a greater scope. Moreover the second section states that——

'The objects of this law are those national lands which are neither private property nor belong to any corporation or pueblo and can therefore be colonized.' United States v. Yorba, 1 Wall. 412, 17 L. Ed. 635.

It is hardly credible that section five should have been intended to reserve the right to displace private owners, and wholly incredible that it reserves the right to do so without compensation, especially when it is noticed that by the law of April 6, 1830, the value of lands taken for fortification, &c., is to be credited to the States. Camou v. United States, 171 U. S. 277, 284, 285, 18 Sup. Ct. 855, 43 L. Ed. 163; Hall, Laws of Mexico, 108, § 291.

The more serious questions arise on the writ of error and concern primarily the extent of the grant; the main dispute being whether the Company owns the tide lands in front of the upland of the island. Carillo's petition states as its ground that he is in want of proper land for the breeding of

Page 487

cattle and horses and asks the grant for a cattle farm of the island or peninsula in question, bounded substantially as in the subsequent grant, viz.: on the north by the Estero of San Diego towards the town, east by the end of the rancho of Don Augustin Meliso, south by the sea, and west by the bay or anchorage for ships, as explained by the map which goes with the espediente. On April 20, 1852, Billings and others then holding the title petitioned the Commissioners to settle Private Land Claims, appointed under the Act of March 3, 1851, c. 41; 9 Stat. 631, to confirm to them this tract of land. The petition was rejected by the Board but on appeal the title was declared good and confirmed by the District Court of the United States. The decree stated the boundaries...

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25 cases
  • United States v. Donnell
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • March 28, 1938
    ...974; Ward v. Mulford, 32 Cal. 365, 370; People v. San Francisco, 75 Cal. 388, 400, 17 P. 522; cf. United States v. Coronado Beach Co., 255 U.S. 472, 488, 41 S.Ct. 378, 379, 65 L.Ed. 736. Such is the effect of confirmation by the Board of titles set up under Mexican grants, upon claimants un......
  • Borax Consolidated v. City of Los Angeles
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    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • November 11, 1935
    ...39 L.Ed. 966; Russell v. Maxwell Land-Grant Company, 158 U.S. 253, 256, 15 S.Ct. 827, 39 L.Ed. 971; United States v. Coronado Beach Co., 255 U.S. 472, 487, 488, 41 S.Ct. 378, 65 L.Ed. 736. But this rule proceeds upon the assumption that the matter determined is within the jurisdiction of th......
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    ...similar rulings by the United States Supreme Court in respect of determinations of the Land Office. In United States v. Coronado Beach Co., 1921, 255 U.S. 472, 41 S.Ct. 378, 65 L.Ed. 736, the Government sought by a bill in equity to ascertain the rights of private parties in an island in th......
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    ...390 (1923); United States v. Oregon Lumber Co., 260 U.S. 290, 43 S.Ct. 100, 67 L.Ed. 261 (1922) and United States v. Coronado Beach Company, 255 U.S. 472, 41 S.Ct. 378, 65 L.Ed. 736 (1921). The interpretation of statutes of repose is therefore well In Atchafalaya Land Company v. F. B. Willi......
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