Roger B. Taney

“ It is supposed, that, under the Spanish or any other government, if a grant from the sovereign is set up and relied on, it would be necessary to appear, that there was an intention to make such grant. The intention is the principal thing. It is the essence of the act. It is the disposing will which governs, when expressed. It lies at the foundation of all law and every contract. The rule that the intention must govern is not the property of any one system, but a maxim of universal law. ”

“ The fact that the lands comprised in the figurative plan, as it is called, are the identical lands to be given to the emigrants composing this colony, is entirely decisive against the idea of a grant to De Maison Rouge. It was not the intention of the Spanish government to require the colonists to look to him for the title to their lands, but directly to the government, who introduced them, paid their expenses, gave them a bounty in money for coming, and promised to give them their lands upon the condition of inhabiting and cultivating them. ”

“ It cannot be supposed that a grant of thirty superficial leagues, far beyond the quantity usually conveyed to an individual, would have been carelessly drawn in new and unusual terms, calculated to create doubts, and that established forms and usages would be disregarded and needlessly departed from. Certainly there is every reason to believe, that, if this land was intended to be conveyed to the Marquis de Maison Rouge, that intention would have been expressed with at least ordinary perspicuity. ”

“ There is not a word or provision in it which implies that there were any doubts about the rights of Maison Rouge under his contract, or that he was to have any other rights under this than were given to him by his former agreement. The land is appropriated for 'the establishment aforesaid.' In other words, it was to be the same establishment, with the same rights, but with limits more distinctly defined, and the rights of other families and new colonists who might unite themselves with the original thirty more clearly recognized. ”

“ They were not to be Americans. The establishment formed on this land was therefore to be made under the contract of 1795, and the rights of both parties regulated by it. The note in question was appended, because the body of the instrument referred only to the undertakings of the government, and without this note Maison Rouge might have regarded himself as absolved from his agreement as to the character of the additional or new colonists. But how could he be required to conform to his contract, unless the contract spoken of was to be carried into execution upon this territory? ”

“ This mode of making up the record, which is borrowed from the State practice, is irregular, and unnecessarily enhances the costs when a case comes up on writ of error. In cases where there is no jury, the facts, as decided by the court, ought regularly to be stated, and inserted in the record, provided the parties cannot agree on a statement. This is most usually done by the court in pronouncing its judgment. ”

“ And being of opinion that the weight of evidence was against the authority of that instrument, it rejected it as not legally admissible, and, proceeding to decide the case as if it were not before the court, it reversed the judgment which the court below had given in favor of the defendants. Upon reconsideration, however, we were unanimously of opinion, that the decision of the Circuit Court upon this question of fact must, like the finding of a jury, be regarded as conclusive; that the writ of error can bring up nothing but questions of law ”

“ And European servants brought by the emigrants, bound to serve six or more years, if they had families, were to be entitled to grants of land, proportioned in the same manner to their numbers, upon the expiration of their term of service.
It will be observed, that this contract contains no stipulation in favor of Maison Rouge. All the engagements on the part of the government are in favor of the emigrants who should accept the conditions. Indeed, it seems to have been no part of the purposes of this agreement to regulate the compensation which he was to receive for this services. ”

“ The case was then treated as an appeal, presenting for revision all the facts and law. It was, in fact, a petitory action brought here by a writ of error; and, having been tried below without a jury, under the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Practice, (Art. 494, 495,) which are adopted by the act of Congress of the 26th of May, 1824, (4 Stat. at Large, 63,) the finding of the court on all matters of fact was conclusive, and not subject to revision. ”

“ And the provincial authorities agreed to pay to every family one hundred dollars for every useful laborer or artificer in it, to furnish guides from New Madrid or New Orleans to the place of destination, to pay the expenses of their transportation from those places, and to grant to each family containing two white persons fit for agriculture ten arpens of land, extending back forty arpens, and increasing in the same proportion to those which should contain a greater number of white cultivators. ”

“ From this paper it appears there were certain 'families who proposed to transport themselves' to Louisiana. The Marquis proposes to bring thirty families, 'for the purpose of forming an establishment with them, on the lands bordering upon the Washita.' The government agrees,-1st, to pay two hundred dollars to every family of two laborers, and in proportion; 2d, to furnish them with a guide, and provisions, from New Madrid to Washita; 3d, to pay for transportation of their baggage and implements, not to exceed three thousand pounds for each family ”

“ It was chiefly denied on three grounds; first, that the grant of the 20th of June, 1797, was connected with, or supplementary to, a contract made on the 17th of March, 1795, between the Spanish government and Maison Rouge, for the settlement of emigrant families at Washita, the conditions of which agreement, it was contended, had not been fulfilled by him; secondly, that the land embraced in the grant had never been separated by a survey from the royal domain, the one certified by Trudeau being alleged to be antedated and fraudulent ”

“ The State of Missouri, 4 Peters, 427, and in another case which we shall presently notice, this court have held, that, where the Circuit Court decides, as in this case, both the fact and the law, no exception can regularly be taken. ”

“ Such a colony, in sufficient numbers to afford some degree of protection against Indian marauders, would, by opening, cultivating, and improving the place of their settlement, create inducements to others of their friends or countrymen to join them, and thus promote the early settlement of that part of the province, which this agreement shows the Spanish government was anxious to accomplish. ”

“ Doane, 3 Dall. 102; Wiscart v. Dauchy, 3 Dall. 327; Jennings v. Thomas, 3 Dall. 336; United States v. Casks of Wine, 1 Pet. 550; Parsons v. Bedford, 3 Pet. 434; United States v. Eliason, 16 Pet. 301; Minor v. Tillotson, 2 How. 394 ”