David Davis

“ Where they embraced lands in California, a procedure, essentially judicial in its character, was provided, with the right of ultimate appeal by either the claimant or the United States to this court. No jurisdiction over such claims in New Mexico was conferred upon the courts; but the surveyor-general, in the exercise of the authority with which he was invested, decides them in the first instance. The final action on each claim reserved to Congress, is, of course, conclusive, and therefore not subject to review in this or any other forum. ”

“ The signature of the clerk of the Probate Court, attached to a transcript of the record of the court ordering the sale of the property of Stephen L. Lee, deceased, is also proved to be genuine. It is also proven that Stephen L. Lee and Luis Lee, assigned in the original petition, were one and the same individual, and that Narciso Beaubien, the son of Charles Beaubien, the present claimant, died without issue. The testimony also shows that the land has been occupied from the time the grant was made up to the present day. ”

“ The said Charles Beaubien further states, that he cannot show the quantity of land claimed by him, only so far as set forth by the foregoing description of points and bounds, nor can he furnish a plat of the survey of the same, as no survey has ever been made. The claimant further states that the said Luis Lee and Narciso Beaubien, after having been put in lawful possession of said grant, conformed to all the laws and regulations in regard to the same as required at that time, and held possession thereof until Jan. 19, 1847, when both were slain in the massacre of Taos of that date ”