Robert Cooper Grier

“ We are not, for that reason, to be astute in searching for reasons to confiscate a man's property because he has too much. Believing, therefore, that in the case before us the claimant has presented a genuine grant for a consideration paid, which the Mexican Government would never have disturbed for any of the reasons now offered for confiscating it, I must express, most respectfully, my dissent from the opinion of the majority of the court, with the hope that Congress will not suffer the very numerous purchasers to forfeit the millions expended on the faith of treaty obligations. ”

“ If a large grant of land in California, like the one before us, were suddenly produced from the pocket of some obscure person, such as Jos e de la Rosa or Santillan, it should excite suspicion and be scrutinized with the utmost rigor. ”

“ But where a grant is public and notorious, without suspicion of fraud or forgery-where a large consideration was paid to the Mexican Government-where possession has been taken and held for sixteen years where numerous purchasers have made improvements worth millions, it is the duty of the court to deal with it according to the rules of equity and justice, instead of applying sharp rules of decision to inflict a forfeiture. ”