United States v. De Morant

• Decision Date: 21 November 1887
• Citation: 31 L.Ed. 171,8 S.Ct. 189,123 U.S. 335
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. DE MORANT and others
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

8 S.Ct. 189

123 U.S. 335

31 L.Ed. 171

UNITED STATES v. DE MORANT and others.

November 21, 1887.

Sol. Gen. Janks, for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 336-338 intentionally omitted] Wayne Mac Veigh, R. B. Lines, and Abram H. Wintersteen, (by special leave of court,) for appellees.

BRADLEY, J.

The petition in this case was filed in the district court of the United States for the Northern district of Florida, for the confirmation of a Spanish grant, under the eleventh section of the act of June 22, 1860, entitled

'An act for the final adjustment of private land claims in the states of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and for other purposes,' (12 St. 85;) and the appeal was taken directly from the decree of the district court to this court, pursuant to the provisions of said section. The petition was filed November 22, 1869, within the time prescribed by the act of March 2, 1867, (14 U. S. St. 544.) It is conceded, by a stipulation filed of record in the cause, that the petitioners are the legal representatives of Cerilo de Morant, Doqumeniel de Morant, and Laurent Millandon, who are deceased. The title of the petitioners is deduced from these deceased parties.

The petition states that on the eighth day of October, 1817, the king of Spain, by Don Jose Masot, governor of West Florida, granted to Cerilo de Morant, then a subject of Spain, a certain tract of land containing 1,600 arpents, situated north-west of Pensacola, in West Florida, about 12 1/2 miles, bounded north wardly by lands previously granted to Don Emanuel Genzales and by public lands, eastwardly and westwardly by public lands, and southwardly by lands granted to Desiderio Quina; that on the first of March, 1818, the said land was surveyed for the grantee by the deputy-surveyor for West Florida, and that on the sixth of March, 1818, the said deputy-surveyor delivered to the proper authorities his certificate and plan of said survey, a copy of which is annexed to the petition; that thereupon the grantee proceeded to clear, occupy, settle, and cultivate the land. A copy of the expediente is annexed to the petition. It then proceeds to state that another grant was made in the same manner on the twentieth day of January, 1818, to Desiderio Quina, of 800 arpents of land, situated about 11 miles north-west of Pensacola, and surveyed for the grantee by the same deputy-surveyor. The plats annexed show that the two tracts adjoin each other. The petition further states that Quina, on the twenty-ninth of October, 1818, sold and conveyed his grant to Cerilo de Morant; and that the latter subsequently sold and conveyed three undivided fourth parts of both tracts to Laurent Millandon, Louis Doqumenil de Morant, and John Chabaux, one undivided fourth to each; and that Laurent Millandon afterwards purchased the interest of Chabaux, and thus became owner of one undivided half of the land. The petition further states that the heirs of Cerilo de Morant petition as well in behalf of the interests of the heirs of Louis Doqumeniel de Morant, and those of Laurent Millandon, as for themselves.

On the trial the petitioners produced in evidence their documentary title in Spanish, with English translations accompanying the same. The title of each tract consists of a testimonio in the usual form in such cases. The testimonio of the tract granted to Cerilo de Morant consists of—First, Morant's petition to the governor for 1,600 arpents of land, indicating the locality, and dated September 22, 1817; secondly, the governor's reference to the surveyor general to ascertain if the lands were vacant, and to the fiscal or attorney general of the royal treasury, for his advice as of the legality and merits of the application; thirdly, the favorable answers of these functionaries; fourthly, an order of the governor that the applicant take the oath required by the fiscal, and that the surveyor general proceed to the measurement and survey of the land, and to annex a figurative plan to his return; fifthly, a certifi- cate of the oath taken by the applicant; sixthly, the return of the surveyor, dated March 6, 1818, stating the survey of the tract in detail, with a plat annexed; seventhly, the governor's certificate to the testimonio, declaring that it conforms with the original, and that it is issued at the request of the party at Pensacola, on the fifth of April, 1818. This testimonio is very full and particular. The other, issued to Quina, omits a report from the fiscal, as the petitioner merely stated the quantity of land desired, and left it to the governor to designate its location, who referred it to the surveyor general. The latter located the land adjoining to the tract granted to Morant. A survey was made accordingly, and a testimonio issued to the grantee, dated the first day of May, 1818. Both of these testimonios (including the surveys) made complete titles under the Spanish laws.

The petitioners also produced in evidence certain acts of sale and transfer, to-wit: (1) A sale by Quina to Cerilo de Morant for the tract of 800 arpents granted to the former. This act is dated twenty-ninth October, 1818. (2) A sale by Cerilo de Morant to John Chabaux, Laurent Millandon, andLouis Doquminel de Morant, Jr., of three undivided fourth parts of the tract of 800 arpents granted to Quina. This act of sale is dated November 9, 1918. (3) A sale by Cerilo de Morant to John Chabaux, Laurent Millandon & Co. of three undivided fourth parts of the tract of 1,600 arpents, reserving to himself one undivided fourth part of the same. This act is dated June 14, 1821. (4) A marshal's deed, dated August 3, 1835, from James W. Evans, marshal of the Western district of Florida, to Laurent Millandon, for the one undivided fourth part of both said tracts which belonged to John Chabaux. This deed recites a judgment against the executor of John Chabaux, recorded in the superior court of the Western district of Florida, in May term, 1825, and an execution sued out in May, 1835, and a sale thereunder by said marshal to said Millandon, in pursuance of which the deed purports to have been made. The judgment and execution were not produced; but no objection to the admission of the deed was made on this account, and the practice in Florida as to proof of judicial sales by sheriffs seems to be very liberal. See Hartley v. Ferrell, 9 Fla. 374, where a sheriff's deed was given in evidence without, so far as appears, the production of the judgment or execution. The fact that the judgment was against the executor was no objection, since real estate was made assets in the hands of executors by the territorial act of 1833, and equally liable with personal property to an execution upon a judgment against the executor. Act Febrauary 17, 1833, §§ 2, 4; Thomp. Dig. 202, 203.

In 1824, these Spanish titles were presented by Cerilo de Morant to the...