Cordova v. Grant

Citations

• 248 U.S. 413
• 39 S. Ct. 138
• 63 L. Ed. 334
• 1919 U.S. LEXIS 2286

Syllabus

<p>Plaintiff claimed, under the laws of Texas, land lying between the present arid former beds of the Rio Grande. Defendant,, claiming under Mexican grants, set up that, as plaintiff’s title depended c®f whether the international boundary had shifted with the river, and as our govermnent, though claiming and exercising de facto jurisdiction over the locus, conceded the true boundary to be unsettled, and by its treaties and acts with Mexico had agreed upon a commission with exclusive jurisdiction to settle it, the courts were thereby deprived of jurisdiction, and the case should be dismissed or the trial stayed until the boundary should be established. Our government had rejected the action of a commission which sat under the last of the treaties referred to, and had waived objection, based on comity, to the litigation. Held, -that the District Court had jurisdiction and might properly proceed with the case, and that its holding to that effect did not involve the validity or construction of a treaty. P. 419.</p> <p>Writ of error dismissed.</p>