Stephen Johnson Field

“ It must be conceded that there was a pueblo of some kind at the site of the city of San Francisco upon the conquest of the country by the United States on the 7th of July, 1846. We say a pueblo of some kind, for the term, which answers generally to the English word town, may designate a collection of individuals residing at a particular place, a settlement or a village, or may be applied to a regular organized municipality. ”

“ That court would have heard the case upon the record, and if it had not affirmed the decree, would have reversed it, or have modified it only in the particulars in which error was alleged by the appellant. A judgment in favor of the United States could only have had the effect either of defeating the entire claim of the city or of restricting its extent in a still greater degree: it could not have removed the exception made in it of the lands reserved for public uses. ”

“ The reasons which may have governed the President cannot affect the validity of his action. He possessed the same authority in 1851 to modify the reservation of 1850, by enlarging or reducing it, that he possessed to make the reservation in the first instance. It is sufficient, in the view we take of this case, that one of the tracts described in the last order embraces the premises in controversy.
The question presented for determination is, therefore, between the title of the city of San Francisco, as it existed on the 1st day of January, 1855, and the title on that day of the United States. ”