Montgomery v. Doe on the demise of Ives

Citations

• 21 Miss. 161

Syllabus

<p>The British government, after the declaration of independence, had no right to make grants to lands lying north of the 31st degree of north latitude; as that parallel was, by the treaty of peace of 1783 between the United States and Great Britain, declared to be the southern boundary line of the former.</p> <p>Yet prior to the declaration of independence, Great Britain having, after the war of 1750, by the treaty concluded in 1763, acquired from France and Spain all the land between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic ocean, ' subject to the Indian right of occupancy, had the right to make grants to any portion of the land, whether north or south of the 31st degree of latitude.</p> <p>Between those of the colonies which were royal, and those which were proprietary before our independence, this distinction existed, viz. : the former belonging absolutely to the crown, it retained both the right of soil and of jurisdiction, and could alter boundaries, grant lands, and dismember the government at will; in the latter, the right of soil as well as jurisdiction was vested in the proprietors; and no change could be made in the limits fixed by the charters, without the consent of the proprietors.</p> <p>Whether the crown of Great Britain had the right to change the boundaries of a royal colony, by any means less solemn and notorious than by a public proclamation, considered but not decided.</p> <p>By the proclamation of George III. of October 7th, 1763, by which, with others, the government of West Florida was created and established out of the lands ceded by the treaty of Paris, it was among other things stipulated that the Indian tribes should be protected “ in the possession of such parts of our dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by us, are reserved to them or any of them as their hunting grounds; ” and that “ no private person do make purchase of any land from any Indians, but that the same shall be purchased only for the government