Stephen Johnson Field

“ It is undoubtedly true, as contended by counsel, that the tribunals of the United States in acting upon grants of land in California of the former Mexican government, under the act of 1851, were concerned only with the validity of the grants as they cam from that government, and were not interested in any derivative titles from the grantees further than to see that the parties before them were bon a fide claimants under the grants. ”

“ Every confirmation is limited by the extent of the claim made; and it does not follow that because the tract embraced within the description of the grant is more extended than the land claimed, that the confirmation would have been made to any greater amount than that claimed if it had been prayed. ”