Terry v. Mecerle

Citations

• 24 Cal. 609

Syllabus

<p>Lands Granted to the State—When may be Selected.—The State of California has no right to select or locate the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to her for purposes of internal improvement by the eighth section of the Act of Congress of September 4th, 1841, until after the lands selected have been surveyed and sectionized by the proper officers of the Federal Government.</p> <p>Same—When State acquires Title.—No title to any specific portion of said grant can vest in the State unless the land has been surveyed, and the selection is made of lands to which there is no subsisting valid claim by pre-emption or otherwise, and the selection is made in parcels conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions of not less than three hundred and twenty acres, and the selection has been approved by the Federal Government.</p> <p>Pre-Emptioners—Rights of.—The State can make no valid selection under said Act of land in the possession of a bona fide pre-emptioner under the laws of the United States, nor can it convey any valid title therein to another.</p> <p>State Patent—Pre-Emptioner may Attack.—If the State selects as a part of said grant land in the possession of a bona fide pre-emptioner at the time of the selection, the pre-emptioner is in such privity with the common source of title that he can attack a patent granted by the State for the same in an action of ejectment brought by the patentee or his assignee.</p>