Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/749

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SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS.Sess. I. Ch. 129.1822.

Statute Ⅰ.

May 8, 1822.

Chap. CXXIX.—An Act for ascertaining claims and titles to land within the territory of Florida.^[1]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, for the purpose of

↑ The decisions of the courts of the United States upon claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida, have been:
After the acquisition of Florida by the United States, in virtue of the treaty with Spain, of 22d of February, 1819, various acts of Congress were passed for the adjustment of private land claims, within the ceded territory. The tribunals authorized to decide on them, were not authorized to settle any which exceeded a league square; on those exceeding that quantity, they were directed to report, especially, their opinion, for the future action of Congress. The lands embraced in the larger claims were defined by surveys, and plats retained; these were reserved from sale, and remained unsettled until some resolution should be adopted for a final adjudication of them, which was done by the passage of the law of the 22d of May, 1828. By the sixth section it was provided, “that all claims to land within the territory of Florida, embraced by the treaty, which shall not be finally decided and settled under the provisions of the same law, containing a greater quantity of land than the commissioners were authorized to decide, and above the amount confirmed by the act, and which have not been reported as antedated, or forged, shall be received and adjudicated by the judges of the superior court of the district in which the land lies, upon the petition of the claimant, according to the forms, rules and regulations, conditions, restrictions and regulations prescribed to the district judge, and to the claimants, by the act of 26th May, 1824. By a proviso, all claims annulled by the treaty, and all claims not presented to the commissioners, &c., according to the acts of Congress were excluded. United States v. Arredondo et al. 6 Peters, 706.
The grant of the king of Spain to F. M. Arredondo and Son, for land at Alachua, in Florida, gave a valid title to these claimants under the grant, according to the stipulations under the treaty between the United States and Spain, of 1819. By the laws of nations, of the United States, and of Spain, a concession or condition becomes absolute, where the condition is performed. Ibid. 691.
The original concession by governor Coppinger, on the petition of George J. F. Clarke, was made on the 17th of December, 1817, of twenty-six thousand acres of land, in the places he solicited in his petition, and a complete title was made of twenty-two thousand acres, part of the same, in December 1817. Twenty thousand acres, part of the whole concession, were sold by the appellee. The other four thousand were surveyed in conformity with the decree of 17th December, 1817, and a complete title to the same was made by governor Coppinger, on the 4th of May, 1818. By the court—The claimant cannot avail himself of the grant of the 4th of May, 1818, made after the 24th of January, 1818, the time limited by the Florida treaty. He must rest his claim on the concession made on the 17th of December, 1817, United States v. Clarke, 8 Peters, 436.
The validity of concessions of land, by the authorities of Spain, in East Florida, is expressly recognised in the Florida treaty, and in the several acts of Congress. Ibid.
The eighth article allows the owners of land the same time for fulfilling the conditions of their grants from the date of the treaty, as is allowed in the grant from the date of the instrument. And the act of the 8th of May, 1822, requires every person claiming title to lands under any patent, grant, concession, or order of survey datee previous to the 24th of January, 1818, to file his claim before the commissioners, appointed in pursuance of that act. All the subsequent acts on the subject, observe the same language, and the titles under these concessions have been uniformly confirmed, when the tract did not exceed a league square. Ibid.
A claim to lands in East Florida, the title to which was derived from grants by the Creek and Seminole Indians, ratified by the local authorities of Spain, before the cession of Florida by Spain to the United States, confirmed. Mitchel et al. v. The United States, 9 Peters, 711.
It was objected to the title claims in this case, which had been presented to the superior court of Middle Florida, under the provisions of the acts of Congress for the settlement of land claims in Florida, that the grantees did not acquire, under the Indian grants, a legal title to the land. Held: that the acts of Congress submit these claims to the adjudication of this court as a court of equity; and those acts, as often and uniformly construed in its repeated decisions, confer the same jurisdiction over imperfect, inchoate and inceptive titles, as legal and perfect ones; and require the court to decide by the same rules on all claims submitted to it, whether legal or equitable. Ibid.
In the case of the United States v. Arredondo, 6 Peters, 691, the lands granted had been in the possession and occupation of the Alachua Indians, and the centre of the tract was an Indian town of that name. But the land had been abandoned, and before any grant was made by the intendant, a report was made by the attorney and surveyor general on a reference to them, finding the fact of abandonment; was made by the attorney and surveyor general on a reference to them, finding the fact of abandonment; on which it was decreed that the lands had reverted to, and become annexed to the royal domain. Ibid.
By the common law, the king has no right of entry on lands which is not common to his subjects; the king is put to his inquest of office, or information of intrusion, in all cases where a subject is put to his action; their right is the same, thought he king has more convenient remedies in enforcing his. If the king has no original right of possession to lands, he cannot acquire it without office found, so as to annex it to his domain. Ibid.
The United States have acted on the same principle in the various laws which Congress have passed in relation to private claims to lands in the Floridas; they have not undertaken to decide for themselves, on the validity of such claims, without the previous action of some tribunal, special or judicial. They have not authorized an entry to be made on the possession of any person in possession, by colour of a Spanish grant or title; nor the sale of any lands as part of the national domain; with any intention to impair private rights. The laws which give jurisdiction to the district courts of the territories to decide in the first instance, and to this court on appeal, prescribe the mode by which lands which have been possessed or claimed to have been granted pursuant to the laws of Spain, shall become a part of the national domain; which, as declared in the seventh section of the act of 1824, is a “final decision against any claimant pursuant to any of the provisions of the law.” Ibid.

[p709-1] The decisions of the courts of the United States upon claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida, have been:
After the acquisition of Florida by the United States, in virtue of the treaty with Spain, of 22d of February, 1819, various acts of Congress were passed for the adjustment of private land claims, within the ceded territory. The tribunals authorized to decide on them, were not authorized to settle any which exceeded a league square; on those exceeding that quantity, they were directed to report, especially, their opinion, for the future action of Congress. The lands embraced in the larger claims were defined by surveys, and plats retained; these were reserved from sale, and remained unsettled until some resolution should be adopted for a final adjudication of them, which was done by the passage of the law of the 22d of May, 1828. By the sixth section it was provided, “that all claims to land within the territory of Florida, embraced by the treaty, which shall not be finally decided and settled under the provisions of the same law, containing a greater quantity of land than the commissioners were authorized to decide, and above the amount confirmed by the act, and which have not been reported as antedated, or forged, shall be received and adjudicated by the judges of the superior court of the district in which the land lies, upon the petition of the claimant, according to the forms, rules and regulations, conditions, restrictions and regulations prescribed to the district judge, and to the claimants, by the act of 26th May, 1824. By a proviso, all claims annulled by the treaty, and all claims not presented to the commissioners, &c., according to the acts of Congress were excluded. United States v. Arredondo et al. 6 Peters, 706.
The grant of the king of Spain to F. M. Arredondo and Son, for land at Alachua, in Florida, gave a valid title to these claimants under the grant, according to the stipulations under the treaty between the United States and Spain, of 1819. By the laws of nations, of the United States, and of Spain, a concession or condition becomes absolute, where the condition is performed. Ibid. 691.
The original concession by governor Coppinger, on the petition of George J. F. Clarke, was made on the 17th of December, 1817, of twenty-six thousand acres of land, in the places he solicited in his petition, and a complete title was made of twenty-two thousand acres, part of the same, in December 1817. Twenty thousand acres, part of the whole concession, were sold by the appellee. The other four thousand were surveyed in conformity with the decree of 17th December, 1817, and a complete title to the same was made by governor Coppinger, on the 4th of May, 1818. By the court—The claimant cannot avail himself of the grant of the 4th of May, 1818, made after the 24th of January, 1818, the time limited by the Florida treaty. He must rest his claim on the concession made on the 17th of December, 1817, United States v. Clarke, 8 Peters, 436.
The validity of concessions of land, by the authorities of Spain, in East Florida, is expressly recognised in the Florida treaty, and in the several acts of Congress. Ibid.
The eighth article allows the owners of land the same time for fulfilling the conditions of their grants from the date of the treaty, as is allowed in the grant from the date of the instrument. And the act of the 8th of May, 1822, requires every person claiming title to lands under any patent, grant, concession, or order of survey datee previous to the 24th of January, 1818, to file his claim before the commissioners, appointed in pursuance of that act. All the subsequent acts on the subject, observe the same language, and the titles under these concessions have been uniformly confirmed, when the tract did not exceed a league square. Ibid.
A claim to lands in East Florida, the title to which was derived from grants by the Creek and Seminole Indians, ratified by the local authorities of Spain, before the cession of Florida by Spain to the United States, confirmed. Mitchel et al. v. The United States, 9 Peters, 711.
It was objected to the title claims in this case, which had been presented to the superior court of Middle Florida, under the provisions of the acts of Congress for the settlement of land claims in Florida, that the grantees did not acquire, under the Indian grants, a legal title to the land. Held: that the acts of Congress submit these claims to the adjudication of this court as a court of equity; and those acts, as often and uniformly construed in its repeated decisions, confer the same jurisdiction over imperfect, inchoate and inceptive titles, as legal and perfect ones; and require the court to decide by the same rules on all claims submitted to it, whether legal or equitable. Ibid.
In the case of the United States v. Arredondo, 6 Peters, 691, the lands granted had been in the possession and occupation of the Alachua Indians, and the centre of the tract was an Indian town of that name. But the land had been abandoned, and before any grant was made by the intendant, a report was made by the attorney and surveyor general on a reference to them, finding the fact of abandonment; was made by the attorney and surveyor general on a reference to them, finding the fact of abandonment; on which it was decreed that the lands had reverted to, and become annexed to the royal domain. Ibid.
By the common law, the king has no right of entry on lands which is not common to his subjects; the king is put to his inquest of office, or information of intrusion, in all cases where a subject is put to his action; their right is the same, thought he king has more convenient remedies in enforcing his. If the king has no original right of possession to lands, he cannot acquire it without office found, so as to annex it to his domain. Ibid.
The United States have acted on the same principle in the various laws which Congress have passed in relation to private claims to lands in the Floridas; they have not undertaken to decide for themselves, on the validity of such claims, without the previous action of some tribunal, special or judicial. They have not authorized an entry to be made on the possession of any person in possession, by colour of a Spanish grant or title; nor the sale of any lands as part of the national domain; with any intention to impair private rights. The laws which give jurisdiction to the district courts of the territories to decide in the first instance, and to this court on appeal, prescribe the mode by which lands which have been possessed or claimed to have been granted pursuant to the laws of Spain, shall become a part of the national domain; which, as declared in the seventh section of the act of 1824, is a “final decision against any claimant pursuant to any of the provisions of the law.” Ibid.

[1]

Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/749

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