Nathan Clifford

“ Applicants for a concession in Louisiana as well as in California usually addressed a petition to the governor for the land, and it seldom or never appears that any survey was had before the concession was issued. Surveys frequently followed the concession or grant; and where the proceeding is regular, it affords strong evidence to support the title of the claimant.
Regular concessions or grants were usually made in one of three ways: 1. Grants by specific boundaries, where, of course, the donee is entitled to the entire tract within the described monuments. 2. ”

“ Grant all that, and still it is insisted that the name of the tract is not remembered by the witnesses, and that such changes in the surroundings of the alleged locality have taken place that neither the locality of the concession nor its extent can be ascertained.
Two answers to that suggestion are made, both of which are entitled to great weight: 1. Whether the locality of the tract as described in the concession can be ascertained or not, presents a question of fact to be ascertained by a jury. ”

“ That hearsay and reputation among those who may be supposed to have been acquainted with the facts as handed down from one to another is competent evidence of pedigree and heirship to be submitted to the jury, who are the judges of its weight and sufficiency. ”

“ Commissioners with fuller powers were subsequently appointed for the adjustment of land claims in the State where this tract is situated, and the plaintiffs gave in evidence their report upon the subject, entitled Special Report, No. 2, as follows: Claim of the heirs of Nicholas Baudin to an island in Fowl River, called Grosse Pointe, or Isle Mon Louis, estimated to contain about fourteen thousand three hundred and sixty arpens. ”