United States v. Maria De La Paz Valdez De Conway

• Decision Date: 30 October 1899
• Docket Number: No. 13,13
• Citation: 175 U.S. 60,20 S.Ct. 13,44 L.Ed. 72
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Appt. , v. MARIA DE LA PAZ VALDEZ DE CONWAY et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

175 U.S. 60

20 S.Ct. 13

44 L.Ed. 72

UNITED STATES, Appt.,

v MARIA DE LA PAZ VALDEZ DE CONWAY et al.

No. 13.

Argued and Submitted January 12, 1899.

Decided October 30, 1899.

This was a petition filed by Maria de la Paz Valdez de Conway and twenty-one others in the court of private land claims for the confirmation of a tract of land known as the Cuyamungue grant, or private land claim, situated in the county of Santa F e, territory of New Mexico, and alleged to contain in excess of 5,000 acres.

It appears from an examination of the expediente, offered in evidence as the basis of the claim, that on January 22, 1731, Bernardino de Sena, Tomas de Sena, and Luis Lopez presented a petition to Governor Juan Domingo Bustamente to grant them the surplus land in the abandoned pueblo of Cuyamungue as royal, public, and uninhabited, and described it as being situated on both sides of the river Tesuque (formerly Cuyamungue), and extending from a bluff of the pueblo of Cuyamungue to the hills of the Namb e road.

The governor made the grant on the same day, directed the chief alcalde of the new village of Santa Cruz to notify the Indians of the pueblo of Tesuque, the heirs of certain adjoining property owners, and all other citizens of the vicinity to show cause, if any they had, why the tract should not be granted to the petitioners, and, if there were no objection, to put them in possession.

Such notice having been given, the alcalde on January 22, 1731, put the petitioners in juridical possession of the lands, describing the boundaries, and, after executing such act, returned the proceedings to the governor, by whom they were approved and placed in the royal archives of the city of Santa F e, a testimonio thereof being delivered to the grantees, the original of which is now a part of the archives of the United States in the custody of the surveyor general of the territory. The grantees, their heirs and assigns, have been in possession of the land grant up to the present time, a period of one hundred and sixty-four years.

The petition further alleged that the claim had been examined and approved by the surveyor general of the territory, returned by him favorably to Congress with a recommendation that the same be confirmed to the legal representatives of the original petitioners; but that it had never been acted upon by Congress, or the authorities of the United States.

The government made no answer to the petition, but the court proceeded to hear the cause upon petition and proofs under the last clause of section 6 of the court of private land claims act, notwithstanding the failure of the government to file an answer. Petitioners produced certain witnesses to the effect that portions of the land granted had been occupied and cultivated by persons claiming under the original grantees; while the government showed that Indians of the pueblos of Namb e and Pojoaque had many years before instituted proceedings before the surveyor general of New Mexico under the act of July 22, 1854, for 4 leagues of land each; that the surveyor general had recommended that the lands thus demanded be granted to them, and Congress had confirmed the grant to each of said pueblos for 4 leagues as recommended (11 Stat. at L. 374); that the grants to said pueblos were surveyed and patents for them issued; that such surveys covered the larger portions of the land of the old pueblo of Cuyamungue, which petitioners alleged were granted to the original grantees in this case.

The oral testimony tended to show that the pueblo of Pojoaque had been in existence since 1710, and the pueblo of Namb e from a time immemorial.

Upon motion made by the government and upon the consent of all the parties to the proceeding, it was ordered on October 11, 1895, that these pueblos be made parties, and that the petition of the claimants be deemed amended accordingly. It did not appear that any copy of the petition was served upon these pueblos, or that they appeared or waived service; but the court on October 24, 1895, entered a decree against the United States confirming the entire grant as com- plete and perfect as of the date of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, and further decreed that the confirmation should in no wise affect the rights of the pueblos of Pojoaque and Namb e, if any they have, as between them and the confirmees under their patents issued by the United States government.

Subsequently to this decree, and on November 9, the Indians of the two pueblos above named entered their appearance, stated that the lands confirmed to the petitioners were almost entirely within the limits of the lands confirmed by the act of Congress to these pueblos, and patented to them, and that, while they were made parties defendant to the petition, they were never served with process, and has no opportunity of making a defense, and therefore moved the court to vacate the decree of confirmation and allow them to be heard in opposition to the claim. This motion was subsequently, and on December 2, 1896, denied, whereupon the United States appealed to this court.

Messrs. Matthew G. Reynolds and John K. Richards, Solicitor General, for appellant.

Mr. John H. Knaebel for appellees.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court:

This case involves the proper disposition by the court of private land claims, under the act of Congress constituting the court, of overlapping grants. The facts are extremely simple: Petitioners derived their title by purchase or inheritance from the original grantees, who held under a royal grant made in 1731 by the then governor of New Mexico, and through which they had been in possession of portions of the land ever since. Their grant had been examined, surveyed, and approved by the surveyor general of the United States in 1871, but had never been confirmed by Congress. It was not true, as stated in the petition, however, that 'no person or persons, natural or artificial, are in possession of the said land, or any part thereof, or claim the same or any part thereof adversely to your petitioners, or otherwise than by their lease or permission,' since it appears there were two Indian pueblos within the limits of the grant, from a time whence the memory of man and the traditions of the several tribes ran not to the contrary. It was shown that one of them, Pojoaque, had a bell originally cast for its church, which bore the date of 1710. These pueblos had instituted proceedings before the surveyor general under the act of July 22, 1854, for 4 leagues of land, which he recommended to be granted, and in compliance therewith Congress confirmed a grant to each of said pueblos, which grants were subsequently surveyed and patents issued. 11 Stat. at L. 374. These surveys covered all the land of the abandoned pueblo of Cuyamungue, granted to the petitioners, except about 100 acres. It was insisted in the court below that the land covered by these patents should be excepted out of the decree of confirmation in this case; but it was held that the pueblos had no just right or claim at the date of the treaty to any part of the land covered by the petitioners' grant; that the United States acquired no right or interest in the land of a citizen in the ceded territory held by a complete and perfect title at the date of the treaty; that Congress did not undertake to decide who was the rightful owner of the land confirmed to the pueblos, but, on the contrary, expressly stated that the patents were not to interfere with any prior right to the land which might be held by other parties. Said the court: 'If the petitioners in this case have a complete and perfect title to the land in question under the grant of 1731, it necessarily follows that the pueblos of Namb e and Pojoaque have no right or title to any of the land within the boundaries of such complete and perfect grant. But the decree of this court does not in any way affect the right and title (if any) that the pueblos acquired by their patents from the United States, as between them and petitioners.'

The court declined to except out of the decree of confirmation the lands covered by the pueblos' patents, but did adjudge that the confirmation should in no wise affect the rights of the pueblos as between them and the petitioners under their patents.

The case depends largely upon the construction given to the sections and parts of sections of the act constituting the court of private land claims. 26 Stat. at L. 854.

By section 6 the petitioner is required to set forth, among other things, 'the name or names of any person or persons in possession of or claiming the same [the lands] cr any part thereof, otherwise than by the lease or permission of the petitioner; . . . and a copy of such petition, with a citation to any adverse possessor or claimant, shall . . . be served on such possessor or claimant in the ordinary legal manner of serving such process in the proper state or territory, and in like manner on the attorney of the United States,' whose duty it is 'to enter an appearance, and plead, answer, or demur, . . . and in no case shall a decree be entered otherwise than upon full legal proof and hearing.'

By section 7 the court has 'full power to hear and determine all questions in cases before it relative to the title to the land the subject of such case; the extent, location, and boundaries thereof, and other matters connected therewith fit and proper to be heard and etermined, and by a final decree to settle and determine the question of the validity of the title and the boundaries of the grant or claim presented for adjudication, . . . and all other questions properly arising between the claimants, or other parties in the case, and the United States.'

By section 8, persons claiming lands under a Spanish or Mexican title 'that was complete and perfect at the date when the United States acquired sovereignty therein shall have the right (but shall not be bound) to apply to said cou...