Stephen Johnson Field

“ If, therefore, the Mexican grant in this case was valid, and it has been so adjudged, there was reserved from sale only two leagues, to be selected, under the direction and control of the government, out of any lands within those boundaries. It was for the government itself to prescribe the limits from which the quantity granted by the Mexican government should be selected, and, having reserved sufficient from the exterior boundaries to satisfy that amount, it was perfectly competent for it to grant any surplus remaining ”

“ In other words, if the territory comprehended in the outside limits and bounds of a Mexican grant are eighty leagues, and the quantity granted is only ten leagues, the government may dispose of seventy leagues without doing any wrong to the original grantee.' It observed, it is true, that it was the practice, in administering the public lands, to allow the original grantee to make his own selection of the place where he would have the quantity located, provided it could be located in one tract ”

“ On appeal the decree of the district court was affirmed by the supreme court of the Untied States in January, 1861, and its mandate was filed in the district court in February, 1865, upon which an order was entered in that court that the claimants, the grantees named, have leave to proceed upon the decree of the district court as a final decree. ”