John Marshall

“ Such were the terms of cession of this very province, from Spain to Britain, in 1763; and from Britain to Spain, twenty years afterwards. It will be borne in mind by the court, that population rather than land is the want of the United States; that their policy as to naturalization is as liberal as that which the wisest modern philosopher has praised in the greatest of the ancient republics; and that sovereignty, not soil, was the great motive for the acquisition. ”

“ Those who represent the interests of the United States in some of the cases before the court, have thought proper to assume, as one ground of defence, that the confirmation or rejection of these titles is matter essentially of executive or legislative cognisance, and addresses itself exclusively to their discretion. The question, they urge, is a political, not a judicial one, and is equally unfit to be submitted to, and incapable of being decided by, a court. ”

“ The king of Spain can annul a grant made by himself, without any allegation of surprise or fraud, simply in virtue of his absolute will and sovereign power. It is too late for us to deny that position; we have recognised it by the treaty; the grants to Alagon, Vargas, and Punon Rostro were annulled. By the treaty, we succeed to all the rights of Spain; the concessions made by Spain are to continue valid to the same extent, &c.; but will it be asserted, that, in succeeding to the rights of Spain, we succeed to the right of his Catholic Majesty to annul the grants of his subjects? ”

“ Computing but thirty millions at the minimum price to which it is proposed to reduce the refuse lands, the United States will receive back their principal from the soil, and obtain the sovereignty for nothing.
It is admitted, that in the cession of a province, the disposition of the inhabitants and their effects is a question of policy between the parties. To divest them of their rights of property is, however, in modern times, an unheard of cruelty. ”

“ The leading objects of the United States were, to procure a more convenient and secure frontier; to command the Gulf of Mexcio, the outlet of a large portion of their commerce; to obtain indemnity for their merchants, and to secure themselves against the annoyance they must naturally expect from Florida, in the hands of an enemy, or a false or feeble neutral. It is notorious, that for more than a century, this territory had been a constant source of injury, jealousy and vexation to the adjoining colonies and states. ”

“ What, indeed, can be more clearly entitled to rank among things favorable, than engagements between nations securing the private property of faithful subjects, honestly acquired under a government which is on the eve of relinquishing their allegiance, and confided to the pledged protection of that contry which is about to receive them as citizens? ”

“ No violence is done to the language of the treaty by a construction which conforms the English and Spanish to each other. Although the words 'shall be ratified and confirmed,' are properly the words of contract, stipulating for some future legislative act; they are not necessarily so. They may import that they 'shall be ratified and confirmed,' by force of the instrument itself. When we observe, that in the counterpart of the same treaty, executed at the same, time by the same parties, they are used in this sense, we think the construction proper, if not unavoidable. ”

“ Whether this land belongs to Percheman or Sanchez must be perfectly immaterial to the United States. If confirmed to Percheman, it operates eo instanti as a confirmation to Sanchez. The attempt to hunt up a deed, conditional or absolute, is but an expedient to avoid the trial of the merits of the case, in the favorable decision of which the United States, as a just government, ought to feel as much solicitude as in the performance of the most sacred national obligation. ”

“ The conveyance of the appellee to Sanchez was absolute; it gave him all the title and rights derived from the grant of the Spanish governor; it made him the legal owner of the tract of land described in the grant; and thus, by him only, or by those holding under him, could a petition be presented, under the provisions of the act of congress. The petition of the appellee was a suit in chancery against the United States, by a person who claims the title against every one else, and he must show his title, and establish it as a complete title, before he can be relieved. ”

“ If the title was confirmed by the treaty, which is the supreme law of the land, the United States have no power to create a tribunal 'finally to reject a claim,' without an appeal to this court. Such an act would directly violate the treaty, and must be considered void. The decisions of the commissioners and register and receiver have never been considered final by congress itself. In every report made since the date of the Louisiana treaty upon claims, which the commissioners nominally had power to decide, an act of congress has been deemed necessary to consummate the title. ”

“ The people change their allegiance; their relation to their ancient sovereign is dissolved; but their relations to each other, and their rights of property, remain undisturbed. If this be the modern rule, even in cases of conquest, who can doubt its application to the case of an amicable cession of territory? Had Florida changed its sovereign by an act containing no stipulation respecting the property of individuals, the right of property in all those who became subjects or citizens of the new government would have been unaffected by the change ”

“ There is a case in point, in the very act relating to the report, in which it is contended, that this claim has been finally rejected. The first section of the act of congress to confirm it, provides, that all the cases, except those subsequent to a certain period, are confirmed and approved. Here, the government agents have two horns of a dilemma. If the decrees of this register and receiver, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, are irreversible, it must operate both ways. It will not do, for any honest government to say it is final when in our favor, aliter when against us. ”

“ Perfidy often wears the mask of subtlety, as well from shame as cowardice; but it is seldom that the counsellors of bad faith, if they condescend to argue at all, are satisfied with a defence so feeble. ”

“ The terms held out in the treaty ceding Louisiana, as well as that by which Florida was acquired, show, that the United States never intended to grasp a barren sceptre, and wave it over a dispeopled territory. The inhabitants were made citizens; the province was to become a state. Can it be imagined, that any rational government would act so unwisely, as to receive into their society a large body of foreigners, endow them with civil rights and political power ”

“ Florida was a colony of Spain, the acquisition of which by the United States was extremely desirable. It was ceded by a treaty concluded between the two powers at Washington, on the 22d day of February 1819. The second article contains the cession, and enumerates its objects. The eighth contains stipulations respecting the titles to lands in the ceded territory.
It may not be unworthy of remark, that it is very unusual, even in cases of conquest, for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign and assume dominion over the country. ”

“ The modern usage of nations, which has become law, would be violated; that sense of justice and of right which is acknowledged and felt by the whole civilized world would be outraged, if private property should be generally confiscated, and private rights annulled. ”

“ These, congress, by act of 23d May 1828, authorized the courts of the territory to hear and determine, with an appeal to the supreme court of the United States. Several cases have been adjudicated in the courts below. Decisions have been pronounced, not easily reconcilable, if not at total variance with each other; appeals have been taken, and the questions discussed are now before this court, whose judgment is deeply interesting, not merely to the parties on the record, but the numerous other suitors whose rights, or supposed rights, depend on similar principles. ”

“ PETITION FOR SURVEY.-His Excellency the Governor: Don Juan Percheman, ensign of the corps or dragoons, and commandant of the detachment of the same, stationed in this place, with due respect, represents to your excellency, that this government having granted your petitioner two thousand acres of land in the place called Ockliwaha, on the margin of the river St. John, he may be permitted to have the same surveyed by a competent surveyor, as soon and at any time your petitioner will find it convenient, which favor your petitioner hopes to receive from the high consideration of your excellency. ”

“ The inhabitants of the ceded territory were protected in all their rights, and became citizens of the United States. Articles 5th and 6th.
Congress has, from time to time, adopted various legislative provisions for the purpose of preserving the national faith, separating private property from the public domain, and securing the individual titles intended to be protected by the treaty. Commissioners were appointed to examine land-claims, with authority to confirm grants not exceeding a certain size, and to report those above that limit to congress. ”

“ The act of congress requires the court to examine and decide upon these claims, in conformity with the law of nations, the treaty, and the laws of Spain. It is proposed to consider the subject, in reference to each of these defence so several rules of decision.
1. The law of nations. It is conceived, that, according to the mitigated rights of war, as now well understood and settled by international law, the lands of individuals are safe, even after conquest, Vatt. lib. 3, c. 13, § 200; much less, can a cession, of itself, destroy private rights. ”

“ Papers translated from a foreign language, respecting the transactions of foreign officers, with whose powers and authorities we are not well acquainted, containing uncertain and incomplete references to things well understood by the parties, but not understood by the court, should be carefully examined, before we pronounce that an officer, holding a high place of trust and confidence, has exceeded his authority. ”

“ Free governments are constructed upon the principle of intrusting as little power as possible, and providing against its abuse preventively by all species of checks and limitations. Arbitrary ones proceed upon the principle of bestowing ample powers and extensive discretion, and guarding against their abuse by prompt and strict accuntability and severe punishment. ”

“ The federal government, unwilling to leave anything in a state of doubt or uncertainty, only wishes to place on the most secure footing whatever is just and honorable, and is at the same time perfectly satisfied that his Catholic Majesty neither asks nor wishes more.' 1 Ex. ”

“ In examining the interests and duties of the United States in connection with this subject, it is not as landed proprietors alone that we must regard them. The rage for new settlements, indeed, makes this the chief point among the people, and greatly increases the prejudices against the large grants ”

“ On the hearing of the case before the supreme court for the district of East Florida, the claimant, by his counsel, offered in evidence, a copy from the office of the keeper of public archives, of the original grant on which this claim was founded; to the receiving of which in evidence, the said attorney for the United States objected, alleging that the original grant itself should be produced, and its execution proved, before it could be admitted in evidence, and that the original only could be received in evidence ”

“ In January 1818, the government of the United States proposed to the Chevalier de Onis to terminate all differences in the following terms: 1. Spain to cede all territory eastward of the Mississippi. 2. The eastern boundary to be the Colorado. 3. Claims for indemnities to be referred to commissioners. 4. The lands in East Florida' and to the Perdido, to be held as security for the indemnities; but no grant subsequent to August 11th, 1802, to be considered valid. 5. Spain to be released from the payment of the debts. ”

“ On the 26th of May 1830, congress passed 'an act to provide for the final settlement of land claims in Florida.' This act contains the action of congress on the report of the 14th of January 1830, which contains the rejection of the claim in question. The first section confirm all the claims and titles to land filed before the register and receiver of the land-office, under one league square, which have been decided and recommended for confirmation. The second section confirms all the conflicting Spanish claims, recommended for confirmation as valid titles. ”

“ The royal order is founded on a letter from Governor Kindelan to the captain-general of Cuba, in which he recommends the militia as worthy the gifts to which the supreme governor may think them entitled ”