Documents pertaining to the adjudication of private land claims in California, circa 1852-1892

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Summary

Creators:
United States. District Court (California)
Abstract:
In 1851 the U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" which required all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their title for confirmation before the Board of California Land Commissioners. Land from titles not confirmed became part of the public domain. This Act placed the burden of proof of title on landholders and initiated a lengthy process of litigation that resulted in most Mexican Californians, or Californios, losing their titles. While 604 of the 813 claims brought before the Board were confirmed, most decisions were appealed to U.S. District Court and some on to U.S. Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and surveyors, and took an average of 17 years to resolve. The records of the District Court cases, the Land Case Files, were deposited on permanent loan in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court in 1961. There are 857 total cases: Northern District Cases 1-458 and Southern District Cases 1-399 (see "Additional Notes on the Collection" for a note on case number discrepancies). Materials include transcripts, witness depositions, materials presented as evidence, and other legal documents. Most maps were transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging (see: Maps of private land grant cases of California).
Extent:
75 linear feet (857 cases in 876 portfolios), 200 microfilm reels, and 848 digital objects
Language:
Collection materials are in English, Spanish
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, , circa 1852-1892, BANC MSS Land Case Files 1852-1892; BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Background

Scope and content:

In 1851 the U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" which required all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their title for confirmation before the Board of California Land Commissioners. Land from titles not confirmed became part of the public domain. This Act placed the burden of proof of title on landholders and initiated a lengthy process of litigation that resulted in most Mexican Californians, or Californios, losing their titles. While 604 of the 813 claims brought before the Board were confirmed, most decisions were appealed to U.S. District Court and some on to U.S. Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and surveyors, and took an average of 17 years to resolve. The records of the District Court cases, the Land Case Files, were deposited on permanent loan in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court in 1961. There are 857 total cases: Northern District Cases 1-458 and Southern District Cases 1-399 (see "Information for Researchers" for a note on case number discrepancies). Materials include transcripts, witness depositions, materials presented as evidence, and other legal documents. Most maps were transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging (see: Maps of private land grant cases of California).

The Land Case Files begin with a transcript of the proceedings from the Board of Land Commissioners case (called a docket) and generally include:

  1. Petion by the claimant
  2. Transcripts of records from the Spanish Archives documenting the claim. This collection of Spanish or Mexican documents is called an Expediente, and it is transcribed in Spanish and translated into English.
  3. Witness depositions. Researchers should consult the Jacob Bowman Index of Witnesses to search individual witnesses (Available in the Bancroft Library Reading Room).
  4. Other legal documents (notices of appeal, subpoenas, requests to submit evidence, etc.)
  5. Maps (most have been separated from the file and catalogued).
  6. Decrees and opinions of judges.

Claimants presented their cases to the Land Board together with documentary and witness support. If the case was appealed, additional records can be found in the U.S. Circuit Court and Supreme Court records. Circuit Court and Supreme Court documents are also intermixed with the District Court records as many of the cases were sent back to the lower courts. See the National Archives for further records from the Spanish Archives (Record Group 49.3.4, National Archives, Cartographic Branch), the California Board of Land Commissioners (Record Group 49), the Circuit Court (Record Group 21), and the U.S. Attorney General (Record Group 60).

Land was often subdivided and resold many times over during the years it was in court, further complicating the litigation process. On final confirmation of title, the claimant had to complete a survey. Further questions were raised at this stage, as Spanish and Mexican land grants followed an older, European tradition of delineating land by boundaries ("bounded by"), while U.S. Courts required a more systematic survey using the Thomas Jefferson Rectangular Survey System. Once the survey was complete, grantees could apply to the General Land Office (now the Bureau of Land Management) for a patent. Patents can be traced in through the following local and federal agencies:

  1. Local County Recorder's Office.
  2. Filling out a Land Entry Records form (NATF form 84) with the National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/contact/inquire-form.html
  3. Searching the Bureau of Land Management/General Land Office Records Land Patent Search website: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/

The Land Cases Files offer a unique view into the transition from Mexican to American rule. Different legal traditions shaped conflicting views of property ownership and exchange, what constituted a legitimate title, and how property disputes should be resolved. While the U.S. system was based in common law and oriented toward the individual, the Mexican legal system was based in civil law and thus oriented towards the community and grounded on the principal of reconciliation. Other factors contributed to the length and complexity of these cases. All confirmed titles were appealed as a matter of procedure by lawyers representing the United States, and the burden of proof was at times impossible to meet given the loss and destruction of Spanish and Mexican Archives during and after the Mexican American War. In addition, spurious challenges were routinely recognized and uneven standards of proof applied in the courtroom, particularly when it came to witness testimony. Some scholars have argued that this complex litigation process violated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo's assurances that Mexican property would be "inviolably protected." Decades of litigation--in tandem with a new tax system, drought, and conflicts with squatters--effectively dispossessed Californios of their property over the course of a generation.

Much of the archival material from Spanish and Mexican California was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake and fire. The records preserved in the Land Case Files offer evidence of life in early California from a wide range of perspectives. They have been used to research historical ecology, boundary disputes, property law, historical sites, Native California, women's history, genealogy, and many other topics.

Biographical / historical:

In 1851, after the Mexican American War, the United States Congress created the Board of Commissioners to Ascertain and Settle the Private Land Claims in the State of California (commonly known as the Board of California Land Commissioners). The Board heard 813 cases between 1851 and 1856, and in 604 of those cases the titles were confirmed. Appeals could be made to U.S. District Court in San Francisco, then on to U.S. Circuit Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Confirmed titles were appealed as a matter of procedure -- all but 3 of the 604 cases confirmed by the Board were appealed to U.S. District Court. Between 1852 and 1892, 857 cases were brought to U.S. District Court, 458 in the Northern District and 399 in the Southern District (see "Information for Researchers" for a note on case number discrepancies). While the majority (97%) of these cases were resolved by 1885, a few cases were litigated into the 1940s. 94 cases appeared before the U.S. Circuit Court, and 114 before the U.S. Supreme Court. Because materials from cases appealed to the Circuit Court and and Supreme Court are interfiled with the District Court Cases, there are documents in the Land Case Files dated later than 1892. The full date range, including interfiled materials from higher courts, is 1852-1942. Of the 604 titles confirmed by the Land Board, 582 received patents.

U.S. District Court records of these cases were transferred to the U. S. Surveyor General's Office in San Francisco (sometimes called the San Francisco Land Office) in 1892. While much of the material in the Spanish Archives was burned in the 1906 earthquake and fire, some land case records -- including the U.S. District Court Records and some original expediente materials -- were stored in a iron safe and thus survived. These records were transferred to the Public Survey Office in 1925, and then to Glendale when the Public Survey Office moved there in 1932. In 1937 the records were requisitioned by the San Francisco District Court to be filed with the Circuit Court land case records. Between 1939-1942 a Works Progress Administration project flattened the cases (previously kept in rolls), paged and stamped each case with a case number, and placed them in clearly marked portfolios. At this point the oversize diseños were separated from the cases, mounted, and filed in drawers. In 1961 the District Court at San Francisco deposited its records of the private land-grant cases in The Bancroft Library on permanent loan. The surviving expedientes materials from the Spanish Archives remained in the National Archives (Record Group 49.3.4, National Archives, Cartographic Branch), as did California Board of Land Commissioners records (Record Group 49), the Circuit Court records (Record Group 21), and the records of the U.S. Attorney General related to Supreme Court Cases (Record Group 60).

Acquisition information:
The Land Case Files originally formed part of the private land claims adjudicated by the U.S. District Courts of California (Northern and Southern Districts). The Land Case Files were placed on permanent deposit in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court, San Francisco in 1961.
Accruals:

No additions are expected.

Physical location:
Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Access and use

Restrictions:

Portions of the collection are available on microfilm (see Container List). Please use microfilm when possible: BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM. Index to microfilm in Microfilm Binder 42.

Terms of access:

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, , circa 1852-1892, BANC MSS Land Case Files 1852-1892; BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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