And it declared that, for the purposes of
the act, all persons should be deemed in possession who held titles
to land within the limits mentioned, by virtue of a grant made by the
authorities of the pueblo, including alcaldes among them, before the
7th of July, 1846,--the day when the jurisdiction over the country
is deemed to have passed from Mexico to the United States,--or
by virtue of a grant subsequently made by those authorities, if the
grant, or a material portion of it, had been entered in a proper book
of record deposited in the office or custody of the recorder of the
county of San Francisco on or before April 3d, 1850. This ordinance
was approved by an act of the Legislature of the State in March, 1858,
and the benefit of it and of the confirmatory act was claimed by the
defendant in the test case.
That case was most elaborately argued by able and learned counsel. The
whole law of Mexico respecting _pueblos_, their powers, rights, and
property, and whether, if possessing property, it was subject to
forced sale, the effect upon such land of the change of sovereignty to
the United States, the powers of alcaldes in disposing of the property
of these municipalities, the effect of the Van Ness Ordinance, and
the confirmatory act of the Legislature, were all discussed with a
fullness and learning which left nothing unexplained or to be added.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171