David Josiah Brewer

“ A petition for rehearing is no more significant than a motion for a new trial, which, as well settled, presents no question for review in this court. Further, it would be strange if a case could be submitted on certain testimony and decided, and then the defeated party could, by motion for a new trial or petition for rehearing, compel the striking out of a part of that testimony, and thus a retrial of the case. ”

“ It was addressed, not to an officer of the court or a counsel in the case, but to a stranger. The clerk, by merely filing such a document, does not adjudicate that it is in fact that which on its face it purports to be. ”

“ The application for a grant described a tract of vacant land near the placer of San Francisco, called 'Placer del Tuerto,' and distant from that town about one league, more or less. This town, with a varying population of a few hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people, was in existence before the application of Ramirez for the grant, at the date of the annexation of New Mexico to this country, and at the time of the survey and patent. The inhabitants held their possessions by the indefinite and unrecorded titles of dwellers in Mexican villages. ”