California Powder Works v. Davis

Statement by Mr. Chief Justice FULLER:

This was a suit in equity brought by Isaac E. Davis, for whom his administrator, Willis E. Davis, was duly substituted, and Henry Cowell, against the California Powder Works, in the district court of the fifteenth judicial district of California in and for the city and county of San Francisco, and subsequently transferred to the superior court of said city and county, to quiet plaintiffs' title to certain lands in Santa Cruz county, Cal. Both parties claimed title under patent from the United States, plaintiffs, through Pedro Sainsevain, patentee of the rancho Canada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo; defendant, through William Bocle, patentee of the tract called 'La Carbonera.'

The case having been heard, the superior court made special findings of fact, and found, as a conclusion of law, that the plaintiffs were entitled to a decree according to the prayer of the bill.

From the findings it appeared that Sainsevain's patent was based on a concession of july 10, 1843, the grant being duly approved June 10, 1846; that the archives of the Mexican government contained a full record of the proceedings; that the claim was confirmed January 17, 1854, by the land commissioners of the United States, duly organized under acts of congress in that behalf, and their decree made final by the dismissal of an appeal therefrom by the district court of the United States for the district of California; that a survey was duly had; and that the patent issued June 4, 1858. As to Bocle's patent, it appeared that the grant to him bore date February 3, 1838. That it was confirmed January 23, 1855, and that a patent subsequently issued, (July 7, 1873;) but it was found that the grant had been falsely antedated, and that it was made in the year 1848. That 'there is not, and never has been, any paper, document, writing, or entry in any book or record in the Mexican archives pertaining to California relating to said alleged grant or concession to said Bocle, nor is the same noted in a book called the 'Jimeno's Index,' nor has said purported grant any map or diseno attached to it, nor is any such map or diseno referred to; and at the said date-the 3d of February, 1838-said Bocle was not a naturalized citizen of Mexico, but was a subject of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.' That the decree of confirmation by the land commissioners of the alleged grant to Bocle was obtained by fraud, 'the said fraud consisting of the fact that no such grant was made to said Bocle for said land, and said paper purporting to be such grant was false, simulated, and fabricated, and made after the conquest of California by the United States from the republic of Mexico, and in or about the year 1848, and was fraudulently imposed upon said board of land commissioners as valid and genuine; and the dismissal of the appeal therefrom to the United States district court was likewise procured by the same fraud, and by the concealment of said facts of the fabrication of said pretended grant from the United States authorities, acting in that behalf; and said land commissioners and said authorities were each and all ignorant of any such fraud, and of the fact that said alleged grant was false and simulated, and were misled and deceived by the false allegations of the said Bocle in that behalf.'

A decree in plaintiffs' favor having been entered, defendant moved for a new trial, which was denied, and an appeal was thereupon taken to the supreme court of California from the order denying said motion, by which that order and the judgment were affirmed.

The supreme court of California, (84 Cal. 617, 24 Pac. 387,) among other things, held: 'Where both parties to an action to quiet title claim the land in dispute under patents confirming Mexican grants, the question of the genuineness of each original grant is a legitimate subject of inquiry in the action, provided such inquiry is admissible under the pleadings; and it may be shown in such case that the grant bearing the oldest date was not made during the term of office of the Mexican governor whose signature it bears, and that it was fraudulently antedated. When the evidence in such action shows that there is no official paper appertaining to an alleged Mexican grant, nor any record or trace thereof, which appears anywhere in the archives of California when a part of Mexican territory, a strong presumption arises against the genuineness of the grant, which can only be overcome by the clerest proof of its genuineness; and, when the oral testimony of witnesses offered in support of such genuineness is of an inconclusive or suspicious character, a finding against the genuineness of the grant will not be disturbed upon appeal.'

Application for a rehearing was made and overruled, and thereupon a petition for the allowance of a writ of error from this court was presented, in which it was set forth that petitioner claimed the land in controversy under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and under a certain statute of the United States entitled 'An act to ascertain and settle private land claims,' approved March 3, 1851; that such lands were ceded to the grantor of petitioner by the republic of Mexico in 1838; that such concession was confirmed by the government of the United States, and a patent therefor issued to the petitioner's grantor under the laws of the United States; that such concession, and the patent thereon issued, were attacked by the bill in equity alleging that the concession was not actually made until 1848; that, on issue joined on that allegation, trial was had, and plaintiffs below secured the entry of a judgment that theirs was the better title; that the decision of the supreme court of the state of California in the cause was and is against a title and right claimed by petitioner under the treaty, and the statute of the United States approved March 3, 1851. The writ of error was allowed, and the case came on on a motion to dismiss.

A. T. Britton, A. B. Browne, J. H. McKeene, and Wilbur F. George, for the motion.

John Garber, John H. Boalt, and T. B. Bishop, opposed.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.