John Archibald Campbell

“ The act of Congress proceeds upon an acknowledgment of the maxim, 'that a man should not be a judge in his own cause,' and requires a judge found in that predicament, on the motion of either party, to make an order for the removal of the cause to another competent jurisdiction. ”

“ The defendant obtained leave of the Circuit Court to amend his answer the third term after the transfer. In the amendment, after adding to his pleas in bar of the action, he pleaded that the apparent legal title was vested in the plaintiff by collusion between him and three other persons, who were citizens of Texas, (one of whom was the judge of the District Court,) to litigate and establish a fraudulent grant in that court, and that these persons were the only persons interested in the said grant. ”

“ The title emanated from the State of Coahuila and Texas, a quarter of a century ago, when Texas was a wilderness. Colonists from abroad were invited, and a league of land was offered to the colonist having a family, for thirty dollars. Mexicans were allowed to purchase eleven leagues of ordinary grazing land for one hundred dollars the league ”

“ At the April term of the court, 1851, the defendant appeared and demurred to the petition, assigning-1st. The description of the premises is insufficient. 2d. The citizenship of the parties is not specifically averred. 3d. There is no endorsement on the petition, as the statutes of Texas require.
With this demurrer, an answer containing pleas of not guilty, the statute of limitations, and that the plaintiff claims under a grant with conditions, and that the grant is fraudulent, and the conditions were not performed, was filed. ”

“ Anderson, 7 Wheat., 212, this court say: 'It is not doubted that a patent appropriates land. Any defects in the preliminary steps which are required by law are cured by the patent. It is a title from its date, and has always been held conclusive against all those whose rights did not commence previous to its emanation.' In Boardman v. ”

“ The alcalde granted the prayer of the petitioner, and directed that the consent of the empresarios should be obtained, and that the surveyor of the colony should survey the lands at the place designated, and should classify them so that theprice might be settled. The empresario, Williams, consented for himself and as attorney for his partner, and the surveyor returned the order of survey with a figurative plan and notes of survey of the eleven leagues. ”

“ The power of the Governor of those States to sell lands to Mexicans, not exceeding eleven leagues in quantity, is unquestionable; and the petition and order in 1830, in connection with the petition and order of May, 1832, are evidence of such a contract. ”

“ The history of this empresa has been judicially ascertained by the Supreme Court of Texas; and they have also decided that lands in a colony thus situated might be sold without reference to the empresario in such a contract. ”