Cervantes

“The board of commissioners to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the state of California,” decided in favor of the validity of the •claim of the appellant, from which decision the United States appealed to this court, by whom the decree of the said board of commissioners was reversed, and a decree entered dedaring the claim of the present appellant to be invalid. [Case No. 14,768.] From this last decision an appeal was taken to the supreme court of the United States, by whom it has been remanded to this tribunal with instructions to permit certain amendments to be made in the pleadings. See Cervantes v. U. S., 16 How. [57 U. S.] 619. It now comes before us for decision on its merits, with the lights which have been shed upon some of the principles embodied in it by the decisions made by the supreme court in the recent cases of Freemont v. U. S. [17 How. (58 U. S.) 542], and U. S. v. Ritchie [Id. 525].

From the evidence in this cause it appears, that the appellant having complied with all the provisions of the Méxican government relating to colonization, obtained a grant from Don Nicolas Gutierrez, dated April 1st, 1836, in these words: “Nicolas Gutierrez, lieutenant…