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Auguste Chouteau's Heirs, Appellants v. the United States 147 (1835)

handle is hein.slavery/ussccases0110 and id is 1 raw text is: JANUARY TERM 1835. AUGUSTE CHOUTEAU'S HEIRS, APPELLANTS V. THE UNITED STATES. A concession of one league square of land, in upper Louisiana, was made by Don Zenon Trudeau,the lieutenant governor of that province, to Auguste Chouteau, and a decree made by him directing the surveyor-general of the province to put him in possession oftheland, and tosurvey the same, in order to enable Chouteau to solicit a complete title thereof from the governor- general, who by the said decree was informed that the circumstances of Choutean were such as entitled him to a grant of the land. The land was surveyed, and the grantee put in full possession of it on the 20th of Decem- ber 1803. He retained possession of it until his death. The objection to the validity of the concession was, that the petitioner had not as many tame cattle as the eighth regulation of governor O'Reilly, governor-gene- ral of Louisiana, required. That regulation required that the applicant for a grant of a league square of land should make it appear that he is pos- sessed of one hundred head of tame cattle, some horses and sheep, and two slaves to look after them, a proportion which shall always be observed for the grants, &c. By the Court. In the spirit of the decisions which have been heretofore made by this court, and of the acts of confirmation passed by congress, the fact that the applicant possessed the requisite amount of property to entitle him to the land he solicited, was submitted to the oicer who decided on the application, and he is not bound to prove it to the court, which passes on the validity of the grant. These incomplete titles were transferable, and the assignee might not possess the means of proving the exact number of cattle in possession of the petitioner when the concess- ion was made. The grant was confirmed. If the court can trust the information received on this subject, neither the governor nor the intendant-general has ever refused to perfect an incom- plete title granted by a deputy governor or sub-delegate. The regulation made by Don O'Reilly, as to the quantity of land to be granted to an individual, is not that no individual shall receive grants for more than one league square, but that no grant shall exceed a league square. The words of the regulation do not forbid different grants to the same person, and, so far as the court are informed, it has never been so construed. APPEAL from the district court of the United States for the district of Missouri. Under the authority of an act of congress, entitled an act enabling the claimants of lands within the limits of the state of Missouri, and the territory of Arkansas, to institute proceedings to try the validity of their claims, the appellants, on the 18th of May 1829, filed the following petition and documents.

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