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Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
BANC MSS Land Case Files
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: Documents pertaining to the adjudication of private land claims in California
Creator:
United States. District Court (California)
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS Land Case Files
Physical Description:
75 linear feet
(857 cases in 876 portfolios)
Physical Description:
200 microfilm reels
Physical Description:
848 digital objects
Date (inclusive): circa 1852-1892
Abstract: In 1851 the U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" which required
all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their title for confirmation before the Board of California Land
Commissioners. Land from titles not confirmed became part of the public domain. This Act placed the burden of proof of title
on landholders and initiated a lengthy process of litigation that resulted in most Mexican Californians, or Californios, losing
their titles. While 604 of the 813 claims brought before the Board were confirmed, most decisions were appealed to U.S. District
Court and some on to U.S. Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and
surveyors, and took an average of 17 years to resolve. The records of the District Court cases, the Land Case Files, were
deposited on permanent loan in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court in 1961. There are 857 total cases: Northern
District Cases 1-458 and Southern District Cases 1-399 (see "Additional Notes on the Collection" for a note on case number
discrepancies). Materials include transcripts, witness depositions, materials presented as evidence, and other legal documents.
Most maps were transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging (see: Maps of private land
grant cases of California).
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English, Spanish
Portions of the collection are available on microfilm (see Container List). Please use microfilm when possible: BANC MSS C-A
300 FILM. Index to microfilm in Microfilm Binder 42.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies
[Identification of item], Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, , circa 1852-1892,
BANC MSS Land Case Files 1852-1892; BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
839 Case Files have been digitally reproduced and links are available in the container listing.
Portions of this collection are available on microfilm: BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM. Digital reproductions of selected cases are
also available and linked to from this finding aid.
Digital reproductions of diseños, plats, and surveys related to the Land Case Files are available through the Online Archive
of California:
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb8489p15p
Related Collections--Spanish Archives
Spanish Archives, Cartographic Branch (RG 49.3.4 [BLM Records])
The Private Land Claims Division of the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives holds original expediente material from
the Spanish Archives that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Related collections--Microfilm of Related Land Case Collections in other Repositories
California Private Land Claim Dockets (BANC MSS C-I 100 FILM) (originals in National Archives)
Cases or dockets brought before the California Board of Land Commissioners. Includes Docket Register and Old Index organized
by docket number (1-621). 118 reels. Finding aid in Microfilm Binder 42, photocopy shelved with Bowman Indexes.
California Land Grant Documents (BANC MSS C-I 87 FILM). Spanish Archives of California (8 vols. in Spanish, 8 vols. in English, 2 vols of maps, I vol. Toma
de razón). (originals in California State Archives)
Transcriptions and translations of title papers and land claims made from Spanish and Mexican Records in the U.S. Surveyor
General's Office in San Francisco for the California Legislature. Created by Rufus Hopkins and John Clar between 1866 and
1871. Includes expedientes, títulos, tomas de razón, and diseños. Finding aid in Microfilm Binder 47.
Libro donde se asientan los despachos de terrenos ... (BANC MSS C-A 162 FILM) (Originals in California State Library)
The "lost" Toma de Razón officially recording land grants by Mexican governors.
Private Land Case Files and Index (RG 21 FILM [T-1207]) (Originals in National Archives)
Ninety-four private land cases from the Circuit Court of the Northern District of California (1852-1910), arranged numerically
by case number. 28 reels.
Department of Justice Records (RG 60 FILM)
Records of the Office of U.S. Attorney General relating to California land claims. 6 reels. (Originals in National Archives).
Related collections--California Board of Land Commissioners Records
Originals in National Archives.
- Journals (1851-1856), 4 reels (BANC MSS 70/27c FILM)
- Letterbook (1852-1855), 1 reel (BANC MSS 70/66c FILM)
- Petitions (1852-1854), 1 reel (BANC MSS 70/28c FILM)
- Decisions (1853-1856), 3 reels (BANC MSS 70/29c FILM)
- Evidence, 21 reels (BANC MSS 69/127c FILM)
- Maps, 1 reel (BANC MSS 69/97c FILM)
Related Collections--The Bancroft Library
The following manuscript collections are directly related to land cases:
California Land Miscellany (BANC MSS C-I 16)
Deeds, agreements, notices, legal documents, and correspondence related to land tenure and the sale and transfer of property.
While the largest collection is listed under BANC MSS C-I 16, other land materials can be found in the BANC MSS C-I call number
range.
Halleck, Peachy Billings, 1852-1857 (BANC MSS C-B 421)
A law firm involved in many land cases.
J.N. Bowman papers regarding California history (BANC MSS C-R 18)
J.N. Bowman papers (additions) (BANC MSS 69/72 c)
Bowman's research materials on land grants and California history.
Robert Becker papers (BANC MSS 93/32 c)
Becker research materials on land grants and surveyors.
Carl William Calbreath papers (BANC MSS C-B 913)
Papers relating to Calbreath's position as clerk at U.S. District Court and land grants.
The Archives of California (BANC MSS C-A 1 - C-A 63)
County Archives (BANC MSS C-A 64--C-A 76)
Spanish and Mexican Governors' papers:
Pedro Fages correspondence and documents (BANC MSS C-A 235)
Fernando Xavier de Rivera y Moncada papers (BANC MSS C-A 368)
Felipe de Neve papers (BANC MSS C-A 178)
José Joaquín de Arrillaga correspondence (BANC MSS C-A 236)
José Darío Argüello documents (BANC MSS C-A 308)
Pablo Vicente de Sola papers (BANC MSS C-A 237)
José María de Echeandía papers (BANC MSS C-A 238)
Manuel Victoria papers (BANC MSS C-A 243)
José Figueroa papers (BANC MSS C-A 239)
Juan Bautista Alvarado (BANC MSS C-A 240)
Manuel Micheltorena papers (BANC MSS C-A 241)
Pío Pico papers (BANC MSS C-A 242 and BANC MSS 68/115c)
J.N. Bowman Indices to the Land Cases
- Index to Land Cases vol. I pts. 1 and 2 (indexed by name of grant)
- Index to Land Cases vol. II pt. 1 (indexed by court numbers, expedientes, unclassified expedientes, deposited expedientes, títulos, and tomas de razón)
- Index to Land Cases vol. II pt. 2 (indexed by name of petitioners, grantees, etc.)
- Index to Maps of Private Land Grant Cases of California vol. III (indexed by map numbers, court case numbers, and names of grants)
- Index of Witnesses, Vol. III, pt. 1 and 2 (indexed by name of witnesses)
Most of the diseños, plats, and surveys associated with the Land Case Files have been transferred to the Map Collection of
The Bancroft Library for separate cataloguing (see Maps of private land grant cases of California). The collection has an
online finding aid:
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb8489p15p
The Land Case Files originally formed part of the private land claims adjudicated by the U.S. District Courts of California
(Northern and Southern Districts). The Land Case Files were placed on permanent deposit in The Bancroft Library by the U.S.
District Court, San Francisco in 1961.
No additions are expected.
In 1851, after the Mexican American War, the United States Congress created the Board of Commissioners to Ascertain and Settle
the Private Land Claims in the State of California (commonly known as the Board of California Land Commissioners). The Board
heard 813 cases between 1851 and 1856, and in 604 of those cases the titles were confirmed. Appeals could be made to U.S.
District Court in San Francisco, then on to U.S. Circuit Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Confirmed titles were appealed as a
matter of procedure -- all but 3 of the 604 cases confirmed by the Board were appealed to U.S. District Court. Between 1852
and 1892, 857 cases were brought to U.S. District Court, 458 in the Northern District and 399 in the Southern District (see
"Information for Researchers" for a note on case number discrepancies). While the majority (97%) of these cases were resolved
by 1885, a few cases were litigated into the 1940s. 94 cases appeared before the U.S. Circuit Court, and 114 before the U.S.
Supreme Court. Because materials from cases appealed to the Circuit Court and and Supreme Court are interfiled with the District
Court Cases, there are documents in the Land Case Files dated later than 1892. The full date range, including interfiled materials
from higher courts, is 1852-1942. Of the 604 titles confirmed by the Land Board, 582 received patents.
U.S. District Court records of these cases were transferred to the U. S. Surveyor General's Office in San Francisco (sometimes
called the San Francisco Land Office) in 1892. While much of the material in the Spanish Archives was burned in the 1906 earthquake
and fire, some land case records -- including the U.S. District Court Records and some original expediente materials -- were
stored in a iron safe and thus survived. These records were transferred to the Public Survey Office in 1925, and then to Glendale
when the Public Survey Office moved there in 1932. In 1937 the records were requisitioned by the San Francisco District Court
to be filed with the Circuit Court land case records. Between 1939-1942 a Works Progress Administration project flattened
the cases (previously kept in rolls), paged and stamped each case with a case number, and placed them in clearly marked portfolios.
At this point the oversize diseños were separated from the cases, mounted, and filed in drawers. In 1961 the District Court
at San Francisco deposited its records of the private land-grant cases in The Bancroft Library on permanent loan. The surviving
expedientes materials from the Spanish Archives remained in the National Archives (Record Group 49.3.4, National Archives,
Cartographic Branch), as did California Board of Land Commissioners records (Record Group 49), the Circuit Court records (Record
Group 21), and the records of the U.S. Attorney General related to Supreme Court Cases (Record Group 60).
Scope and Content of Collection
In 1851 the U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" which required
all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their title for confirmation before the Board of California Land
Commissioners. Land from titles not confirmed became part of the public domain. This Act placed the burden of proof of title
on landholders and initiated a lengthy process of litigation that resulted in most Mexican Californians, or Californios, losing
their titles. While 604 of the 813 claims brought before the Board were confirmed, most decisions were appealed to U.S. District
Court and some on to U.S. Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and
surveyors, and took an average of 17 years to resolve. The records of the District Court cases, the Land Case Files, were
deposited on permanent loan in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court in 1961. There are 857 total cases: Northern
District Cases 1-458 and Southern District Cases 1-399 (see "Information for Researchers" for a note on case number discrepancies).
Materials include transcripts, witness depositions, materials presented as evidence, and other legal documents. Most maps
were transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging (see: Maps of private land grant cases
of California).
The Land Case Files begin with a transcript of the proceedings from the Board of Land Commissioners case (called a docket)
and generally include:
- Petion by the claimant
- Transcripts of records from the Spanish Archives documenting the claim. This collection of Spanish or Mexican documents is called an Expediente, and it is transcribed in Spanish and translated into English.
- Witness depositions. Researchers should consult the Jacob Bowman Index of Witnesses to search individual witnesses (Available in the Bancroft Library Reading Room).
- Other legal documents (notices of appeal, subpoenas, requests to submit evidence, etc.)
- Maps (most have been separated from the file and catalogued).
- Decrees and opinions of judges.
Claimants presented their cases to the Land Board together with documentary and witness support. If the case was appealed,
additional records can be found in the U.S. Circuit Court and Supreme Court records. Circuit Court and Supreme Court documents
are also intermixed with the District Court records as many of the cases were sent back to the lower courts. See the National
Archives for further records from the Spanish Archives (Record Group 49.3.4, National Archives, Cartographic Branch), the
California Board of Land Commissioners (Record Group 49), the Circuit Court (Record Group 21), and the U.S. Attorney General
(Record Group 60).
Land was often subdivided and resold many times over during the years it was in court, further complicating the litigation
process. On final confirmation of title, the claimant had to complete a survey. Further questions were raised at this stage,
as Spanish and Mexican land grants followed an older, European tradition of delineating land by boundaries ("bounded by"),
while U.S. Courts required a more systematic survey using the Thomas Jefferson Rectangular Survey System. Once the survey
was complete, grantees could apply to the General Land Office (now the Bureau of Land Management) for a patent. Patents can
be traced in through the following local and federal agencies:
- Local County Recorder's Office.
- Filling out a Land Entry Records form (NATF form 84) with the National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/contact/inquire-form.html
- Searching the Bureau of Land Management/General Land Office Records Land Patent Search website: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/
The Land Cases Files offer a unique view into the transition from Mexican to American rule. Different legal traditions shaped
conflicting views of property ownership and exchange, what constituted a legitimate title, and how property disputes should
be resolved. While the U.S. system was based in common law and oriented toward the individual, the Mexican legal system was
based in civil law and thus oriented towards the community and grounded on the principal of reconciliation. Other factors
contributed to the length and complexity of these cases. All confirmed titles were appealed as a matter of procedure by lawyers
representing the United States, and the burden of proof was at times impossible to meet given the loss and destruction of
Spanish and Mexican Archives during and after the Mexican American War. In addition, spurious challenges were routinely recognized
and uneven standards of proof applied in the courtroom, particularly when it came to witness testimony. Some scholars have
argued that this complex litigation process violated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo's assurances that Mexican property would
be "inviolably protected." Decades of litigation--in tandem with a new tax system, drought, and conflicts with squatters--effectively
dispossessed Californios of their property over the course of a generation.
Much of the archival material from Spanish and Mexican California was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake and fire. The records
preserved in the Land Case Files offer evidence of life in early California from a wide range of perspectives. They have been
used to research historical ecology, boundary disputes, property law, historical sites, Native California, women's history,
genealogy, and many other topics.
Additional Notes on Collection
The Land Case Files at the Bancroft Library are the cases presented in U.S. District Court in San Francisco between 1852 and
1892. Other terms used to describe cases related to Spanish and Mexican land titles include expediente (records of the original
petition) and docket (cases presented before the Board of California Land Commissioners).
While 857 case numbers were assigned in U.S. District Court (458 in the Northern District and 399 in the Southern District),
the total number of Land Case Files at the Bancroft Library is 839 (442 in the Northern District and 397 in the Southern District).
This discrepancy is the result of 17 cases transferred from one district to another and 1 clerical error. In some cases there
remains a case portfolio with a record indicating the case has been transferred.
Most of the diseños, plats, and surveys associated with the Land Case Files have been transferred to the Map Collection of
The Bancroft Library for separate cataloguing (see Maps of private land grant cases of California). The alphabetical designations
A-F indicate size, with A being the smallest and F the largest. Maps with an R designation are small maps that were not transferred
or catalogued and remain in their respective Land Case Files. Bowman assigned certain maps with an S designation in his Index
of Maps. S indicates the map is either duplicated or can only be found in the Spanish Archives California in the California
State Archives. The Bancroft Library holds microfilm of the Spanish Archives of California: BANC MSS C-I 87 FILM.
Original expediente material related to the land case claims can be found in the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives
(Record Group 49.3.4). Other materials related to the Land Case Files can also be found in the National Archives, including
the California Board of Land Commissioner Records (RG 49), Circuit Court Records (RG 21), and Records of the Attorney General
related to Supreme Court cases (RG 60).
See Crisostomo Perez's Land Grants in Alta California for an extended glossary of land grant names and terms (pages 243-248).
- Appelee
- party who wins a court case that is then appealed. Also called a respondent.
- Claimants
- party making claim to Land Board.
- Concebo
- Spanish or Mexican governor's concession of land to petitioner.
- Diseño
- sketch of land and land boundaries.
- Deposition
- testimony regarding validity of land claim.
- Docket
- case presented before the Board of California Land Commissioners.
- Expediente
- records of the original petition for land from Spanish or Mexican goverment. Complete expedientes include a petition to the governor, an informe (local official's report), a concebo (governor's concession), the approval of Departmental Assembly, the governor's certificate, a título (title), and diseños. Most expedientes are incomplete. In addition to expedientes, the Spanish Archives (remnants of the 1906 earthquake and fire) contain unclassified expedientes (miscellaneous expedientes, many for rejected petitions or land not claimed in U.S. courts), filed expedientes (papers presented to the Land Board by claimant) and deposited expedientes (papers deposited in the Spanish Archives by claimants).
- Government Land Office index number (GLO)
- Patent number. In 1946 the General Land Office office duties were taken over by the Bureau of Land Management. Patent numbers can be traced in their respective County Recorder's Office. Land Entry Records can also be ordered from the National Archives (NATF form 84).
- Grantee
- party granted land, same as claimant in most cases.
- Juridical Possession
- act performed by petitioner, local magistrate, and neighbors delineating boundaries of a grant by walking the property line. The boundaries were marked using two cordeleros (men on horseback carrying poles attached by a cord), piles of stones, and other landmarks.
- Patentee
- party who received final patent on conclusion of case.
- Petitioner
- party originally petitioning for lands (under Spanish or Mexican government).
- Plat
- maps produced by official surveyors delineating land boundaries.
- Sitio or sitio del ganado mayor
- square league
- Solar
- a lot of town land
- Suerte
- a lot of farm land
- Survey
- measurement of land by official surveyors.
- Título
- copies in Spanish archives of title papers issued by governors to grantees.
- Tomas de razón
- Spanish and Mexican registers of land concessions.
- Witness
- person testifying in Land Case on behalf of or against claimant
Microfilm is available for all of the Bowman indexes except for the Index of Witnesses.
Jacob N. Bowman Land Case Indexes (BANC MSS C-R 17 and C-R 16)
Beck, Warren A. and Ynez de Haase.
Historical Atlas of California. Norman, Okla., University of Oklahoma Press, 1974.
Becker, Robert H.
Designs on the land. San Francisco, Calif., Book Club of California, 1969.
_______.
Diseños of California Ranchos. San Francisco, Calif., Book Club of California, 1964.
Beers, Henry Putney.
Spanish and Mexican Records of the American Southwest. Tucson, Ariz., University of Arizona Press, 1979.
Bowman, J. N.
History of the Provincial Archives of California. Berkeley, Calif., 1946.
Cowan, Robert G.
Ranchos of California. Fresno, Calif., Academy Library Guild, 1956.
Hoffman, Ogden.
Reports of Land Determined in the United States District court for the Northern District of California. San Francisco, Calif., Yosemite Collections, 1975.
Langum, David.
Law and Community on the Mexican California Frontier. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
Lounsbury, Ralph G.
Mexican Land Claims in California. Washington, D.C.: The National Archives, 1963.
Perez, Crisostomo.
Land grants in Alta California. Rancho Cordova, Calif., Landmark Enterprises, 1996.
_______.
Grants of Land in California made by Spanish or Mexican Authorities. Sacramento, Calif., State Lands Commission, 1983.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
United States--Commission for Ascertaining and Settling Private Land Claims in California
United States--District Court (California : Northern District)
United States--District Court (California : Southern District)
United States--District Court (California)
Land grants--California
Land grants--California--[City]--Map
Land grants--California--[County]
Land grants--California--[State Park]--Maps, Manuscript
Land grants--California--HIstory
Land grants--California--History--Sources--Indexes
Land tenure--California
Land titles--California
Land titles--California--[County]
Land titles--California--[Rancho]
Land titles--California--Cases
Case files
Land grants
Maps
- Collection Overview
-
Collection Details
- Access
- Publication Rights
- Preferred Citation
- Alternate Forms Available
- Related Collections--Spanish Archives
- Related collections--Microfilm of Related Land Case Collections in other Repositories
- Related collections--California Board of Land Commissioners Records
- Related Collections--The Bancroft Library
- J.N. Bowman Indices to the Land Cases
- Separated Material
- Acquisition Information
- Accruals
- Organizational History
- Scope and Content of Collection
- Additional Notes on Collection
- Glossary
- Reference material