Scott

The plaintiff claims title to the lands described in the complaint under a grant of the same made by T. M. Leavenworth, Alcalde of the Pueblo of San Francisco, to one A. C. Harris, on the 22nd day of September, 1848, which was in the usual form of alcalde grants, and made in compliance with the then customary formalities.

The question of the validity of such a grant, and that it conferred the right to the possession upon the grantee, cannot be reconsidered by this Court.

The 7th day of July, 1846, has been recognized by the Courts and by the Congress of the United States, as the date when the authority of the Mexican departmental officials terminated in Calitornia. But in Cohas v. Raisin, (3 Cal.) 448, it was held that a grant, or a town lot, made by an “ American Alcalde,” in 1847, conveyed a title to the grantee; and the Supreme Court said: “ A grant of a lot in San Francisco, made by an Alcalde, whether a Mexican or of any other nation, raises the presumption that the Alcalde was a properly qualified officer; that he had authority to make the grant, and that the land was within the boundaries of the pueblo.” It was further said, that such grants were not of any portion of the…