Moore v. Smaw

Citations

• 17 Cal. 199

Syllabus

<p>A patent from the United States for land in California, issued upon a confirmation of claims held under grants of the former Mexican Government, invests the patentee with the ownership of the precious metals which the land may contain.</p> <p>The Act of March 3d, 1851, “ To ascertain and settle Private Land Claims in California,” does not restrict the operation of the patents, issued by the United States upon confirmation of the claims to the interests acquired by the claimants from the former Government, nor distinguish the patents so issued from other patents issued by the United States. Patents issued under the act are without words of reservation or limitation, except that they shall not affect third persons.</p> <p>A patent of land from the United States passes to the patentee all the interest of the United States, whatever it may be, in everything connected with the soil, or forming any portion of its bed or fixed to its surface; in short, in everything embraced within the term “ land.”</p> <p>The United States occupy, with reference to their real property within the limits of a State, only the position of a private proprietor—with the exception of exemption from State taxation—and their patent of such property is subject to the same general rules of construction which apply to conveyances of individuals.</p> <p>Where individuals convey lands, the minerals of gold and silver pass unless expressly reserved.</p> <p>Upon the separation of Mexico from Spain, the mines of gold and silver, which until that period were vested in the Spanish crown, passed to and vested in the Mexican nation.</p> <p>Under Mexican law, no interest in the minerals of gold and silver passed by a grant from the Government of the land in which they were contained, without ex. press words designating them. Such grant only passed an interest in the soil distinct from that of the minerals.</p> <p>The interest in the minerals was conveyed, through the operation of the mining ordinances, by r