Berreyesa v. Schultz

Jose and Sisto Berreycsa, in 1843, petitioned the Governor of California for a grant of eight leagues of land, known as “Las Putas,” and in their petition represented that they were married, and had children, and also a considerable number of cattle and horses, and needed land on which to place them. On this petition, after a favorable report from his Secretary, the Governor ordered that a title issue to the petitioners for so much of'the land as they could settle. . No title issued upon this order; but for some unexplained reason the petitioners considered the concession which it directed as embracing four leagues of the tract solicited, and on the following day they presented a second petition, in which they stated that their families were very large, and included their parents, children, and brothers, and besides that there were more than one hundred uncivilized Indians in their neighborhood whom it was necessary to maintain, and for these reasons prayed a grant to themselves of the other four leagues. The report of the Secretary on this petition speaks of it as presented for the benefit of the petitioners, and of their parents, children, and brothers. On this petition a grant was issued, conceding to José and Sisto the entire tract, and declaring it to be their property, and imposing upon them the usual conditions. This grant recited that the grantees had petitioned “for their personal benefit, and that of their families, and that of their parents and brothers.” It being contended by the appellants, from these facts, that the parents and brothers of the petitioners as well as petitioners were beneficially interested in the grant: Meld,

First—That no valid argument in favor of the position of appellants could be drawn from the character of the first order of the Governor, because the grant which transferred the title was not issued upon it;

Second—That the second petition, and the report of the Secretary upon it, taken together, showed that the parents, children, and brothers, were referred to only as inducements for enlarging the bounty of the Government to the petitioners, and not as distinct additional beneficiaries ;

Third—-That the recital in the grant did not control the course of the title—that it only disclosed the inducements which operated upon the Governor to make the grant, and that the language of the operative clauses entirely excluded the idea that any other person than the two Berreyesas who petitioned were to become invested with the title ;

Fourth—That José and Sisto Berreyesa, the grantees, were invested by the grant with the full legal and beneficial title to the land, exempt from any trust in favor of the other members of the family.

The Mexican Regulations of 1828 required the applicant for lands, whether an empresario, head of family, or private person, to set forth in his petition to the Governor, “his name, country, profession, the number, description, religion, and other circumstances, of the families or persons with whom he wished to colonize,” and though these particulars constituted considerations with the authorities in whom the granting power was vested, they did not in any respect control the course of the title against the operative words of transfer in the grant.