UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

RICHARDSON V. AINSA, 218 U. S. 289 (1910)

218 U. S. 289

U.S. Supreme Court

Richardson v. Ainsa, 218 U.S. 289 (1910)

Richardson v. Ainsa

No. 28

Argued November 2, 1910

Decided November 14, 1910

218 U.S. 289

Syllabus

Notwithstanding the contention of appellant in this case, the decision of this Court in Ainsa v. New Mexico & Arizona R. Co., No. 2, 175 U. S. 91, that the District Court of Arizona had jurisdiction of an action to quiet title brought by a grantee of the Mexican government of land in the territory included in the Gadsden Purchase, did not proceed upon a mistake in fact and is not inconsistent with the reasoning of the decision of Ainsa v. New Mexico & Arizona R. Co., No. 1, 175 U. S. 76.

Under the Gadsden Purchase Treaty with Mexico of December 30, 1853, 10 Stat. 1031, the good faith of the United States was pledged to respect Mexican titles, and one whose title was absolutely perfected prior to the treaty was not bound to present his title for confirmation to the Court of Private Land Claims under the Act of March 3, 1891; nor did the fact that he prayed for confirmation, in a suit brought by the United States against him in that court to declare the patent void or to determine boundaries if valid, limit his claim to the recovery of the price specified in the act for land included within the grant but patented to others by the United States.

While, under § 14 of the Act of March 3, 1891, where the claimant of a Mexican land grant himself presented his claim to a Mexican grant in the Gadsden Purchase to the Court of Private Land Claims, he might be limited to recovery in the case of lands within his grant sold by the United States to the price specified in the act, where he is brought into the court by the United States in a suit attempting to set aside a grant title to which was perfected before the treaty, he is not so limited and patents issued by the United States to lands within the boundaries of his grant are mere usurpations and void.

95 P. 103 affirmed.

The fact, which involve the title to land in Arizona clubjuris

Page 218 U. S. 290

in the territory known as the Gadsden Purchase, are stated in the opinion. clubjuris

Page 218 U. S. 294


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