Cohas v. Raisin

Citations

• 3 Cal. 443

Syllabus

<p>By the laws of Mexico, towns were invested with the ownership of lands.</p> <p>By the laws, usage, and custom of Mexico, the Alcaldes were the heads of the Ayuntamientos, or town councils; were the executive officers of the towns, and rightfully exercised the power of granting lots within the towns, which were the property of the towns.</p> <p>Before the military occupation of California by the army of the United States, San Francisco was a Mexican Pueblo, or municipal corporation, and was invested with title to the lands within her boundaries.</p> <p>A grant of a lot in San Francisco, made by an Alcalde, whether a Mexican, or of any other nation, raises the presumption, that the Alcalde was a properly qualified officer, that he had authority to make the grant, and that the land was within the boundaries of the Pueblo.</p> <p>Under the Mexican laws, municipal lands become the absolute property of the Pueblo, subject only in their disposition to the general laws of Mexico.</p> <p>The occupation and subsequent acquisition of California by the United States did not suspend or determine any rights or interest of San Francisco in such lands.</p> <p>And if any interest passed to the Government of the United States by the said acquisition, it has been reconveyed by the Act of Congress of March 3d, 1851, entitled, “ An Act to Ascertain and Settle the Private Land Claims in California.”</p> <p>It is too late to question the authority of an Alcalde elected in 1846. If invalid, his acts as a defacto officer, must be held good by this court.</p> <p>The title acquired by San Francisco, by virtue of the Act of Congress of March 3d, 1851, to the Pueblo lands, must enure to the benefit of bona fide holders under her grants.</p> <p>The case of Woodworth 0. Fulton is not law, and can be no farther regarded as authority. There is no principle which compels the observance of the doctrine of stare decisis, when a rule well settled and universally acquiesced in, has been violated.</p>