Private Land Claims

The United States obtained from the Republic of Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, of February 2, 1848, and by the Gadsden purchase, December 30, 1853, all the property included in what is now the states of California, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and the territories of new Mexico and Arizona; and by these treaties the United States agreed to protect and recognize the rights of property of every kind belonging to Mexicans that was situated in the ceded territory. Under the stipulations contained in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, congress, on March 3, 1851, passed a law to determine the validity of private land grants in the state of California; and on March 3, 1891 (26 Stat L. 854), it passed a law for the settlement of title to private land grants under both treaties, entitled “An act to establish a court of private land claims and to provide for the settlement of private land claims in certain states and territories.” By this act all persons claiming rights protected by the treaties, whether their title was complete and perfect or incomplete and inchoate, are given the right to present their claims and have the validity thereof ascertained and determined by the court. This court veys executed under its decrees of confirmation were conferred upon the commissioner of the general land office; Act of April 28, 1904.