The United States v. Boisdoré et al. THE UNITED STATES, APPELLANTS, v. ETIENNE ALPHONSO BOISDORÉ, LAURENT BOISDORÉ, SIDNEY BOISDORÉ, MATHILDE AND ALerine NICOLAS, WIDOW OF MANUEL FABRE DANONY, CAROLINE NICOLAS, ELISE NICOLAS, Joseph Manuel de Labarre, DELPHINE VICTOIRE DE LABARRE REAL AND HER HUSBAND CHRISTOVAL REAL, Louis DEJEAN, ANTOINE Boisdoré, anD MANATTE DEJEAN PARDON AND HER HUSBAND VINCENTE PARDON, HEIRS OF LOUIS BOISDOré, de CEASED. In adjudicating upon an imperfect title under a Spanish concession, this court again adopts the rule laid down in 10 Peters, 330, 331; viz. Can a court of equity, according to its rules and the laws of Spain, consider the conscience of the king so affected by the acts of his lawful authorities in the province, that he became a trustee for the claimant, and held the land claimed by an equity upon it, amounting to a severance of so much from the public domain, before and at the time the country was ceded to the United States? This rule, applied to the following case, brings out the results stated below. In 1783, in consequence of a memorial from Boisdoré, Miro, the acting Governor of Louisiana, issued the following order to Trudeau, the Surveyor-General, viz:: "Don Carlos Laveau Trudeau will establish Louis Boisdoré upon the extent of ground which he solicits in the preceding memorial, situated in the section of country commonly called Achoucoupoulous, commencing in front from the plantation belonging to Philip Saucier, a resident of said country, down to the bayou called Mosquito Village Bayou, with the depth down to Pearl River; the same being vacant, and no prejudice being caused to the neighbors living as well in front as upon the depth; which measures he will reduce to writing, signing with the aforesaid parties, and will remit the same to me, in order that I may furnish the party interested with a corresponding title in due form." Boisdoré, in his memorial, had stated that he wished to form an establishment for the whole of his numerous family, on which he might employ all his negroes, and support a large stock of cattle which would be useful to the neighboring city. The grantee took only a trifling possession of the land by placing a single slave there, and Trudeau never made, nor attempted to make, a survey. In 1808 the Spanish Governor of Florida gave directions to the Surveyor-General of Florida, who drew a figurative plan of a survey, but the Governor of Florida at that time had no jurisdiction over the land. If Trudeau had made a survey and returned a certificate, it would have been binding, although it might not have conformed strictly to the lines of the original grant. But the description of the tract is so vague and uncertain, that it cannot now be surveyed by an order of the court. The mode directed by the District Court would include four hundred thousand acres; and it is unreasonable to suppose that the conscience of the king of Spain would have been bound to confirm such a grant, when the grantee neglected to fulfil the obligations which were incumbent upon him. Besides, there being no given point from which to commence the survey, or to establish the second corner, if the court were to order the mode in which the survey was to be made, it would not be a judicial decree, but an exercise of political jurisdiction. THIS was an appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi. The case arose under the act of 26th May, 1824 (4 Stat. at Large, 52), as revived and reenacted by the act of June 17, 1844 (5 Stat. at Large, 676). A petition was presented to the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Mississippi, by the heirs of Louis Boisdoré, claiming a large The United States v. Boisdoré et al. tract of land lying between the Bay of St. Louis and Pearl River, in the State of Mississippi, and below the thirty-first degree of north latitude. The circumstances were these. On the 1st of April, 1783, Louis Boisdoré presented the following application to Miro, the acting Governor-General of Louisiana. "Señor Governor-General:-I, Louis Boisdoré, a citizen of this city, do, with due respect, present myself to your Excellency and say, that, wishing to form an establishment and cow-house (cattle-raising farm) in the vicinity of the Bay of St. Louis, in the place commonly called Achoucoupoulous, for all my family, which is very considerable, as is well known to your Excellency; and moreover, for the purpose of employing all my negroes on it, and keeping a considerable stock of cattle which i have already on the place, the place being almost uninhabitable, only fit for a vaqueria (cattle-raising farm): May it please your Excellency, in consideration of what is above explained, and of the benefit that will result to the capital (city) from such a considerable cattle-raising establishment as the one which I have commenced to form in the said place, and in the vicinity of said city, to grant to me the portion of ground which is vacant in the said place (section of country), known under the name of Achoucoupoulous, running from the plantation of Philip Saucier up to the bayou called Bayou of Mosquito Village, formerly inhabited by Mr. (paper torn off), and running in depth down to Pearl River, in order that I may form with facility the aforesaid establishment and cow-house (cattle-raising farm) for all my family as aforesaid; a favor which I hope, according to justice, from the granting power which is vested in you. "New Orleans, 1st April, 1783. (Signed,) L. BOISDORÉ." Upon which application, the Governor-General issued the following, viz. : "New Orleans, 26th April, 1783. "Considering the sufficient reasons explained to me above, and having regard to the advantage and utility which will result to the capital from the establishment of a cow-pen (vaqueria) in that section of the country, little suited to any kind of culture, the surveyor of the province, Don Carlos Laveau Trudeau, will establish Don Louis Boisdoré on the tract of land which he solicits in the preceding memorial, situated in the section of country commonly called Achoucoupoulous, taking The United States v. Boisdoré et al. as the front from the plantation of Philip Saucier, a resident of said section of country, to the bayou called the Bayou of the Village of Maringouins, with a depth unto Pearl River, it being vacant, and causing no prejudice to the neighboring inhabitants, as well in front as in depth; which proceedings he will extend in continuation, sign and forward to me, with the preceding, that I may furnish the party interested a title in due form. "MIRO." In 1808, Boisdoré having died, his widow authorized Don Gilbert Guillemard, a lieutenant-colonel in the army, to obtain an order for a survey from Morales, then in Pensacola. In the petition Guillemard recites as follows: "And although, at that period, on account of the multifarious occupations which engrossed the attention of Charles Laveau Trudeau, the surveyor, in relation to the admeasurement and survey of lands of value, and on account of the great expense to be incurred previously, he did not proceed to the admeasurement and marking out the boundaries of said tract of land, but notwithstanding transported and conveyed thither a large stock of cattle, and placed thereon a stock-keeper, named Augustus Mallet, who remains on to the present day, to preserve the right of property in himself, which the said Boisdoré in his lifetime possessed," &c. This petition was referred to the fiscal minister of the royal treasury, who, on the 7th of April, 1808, ordered the SurveyorGeneral to make out a map and certificate of survey to be returned to him. On the 23d of May, 1810, Pintado addressed a letter of instructions to a deputy surveyor, instructing him to lay down the lines of the grant as follows: The demand of M. S. Boisdoré, senior, is conceived in a manner a little confused in regard to the place, for he says in his memorandum of the 1st of April, 1783, that the land which he claims is on a place called Achoucoupoulous, commencing from Philip Saucier's plantation, as far as the bayou called the Mosquito Village, formerly inhabited by Madam Susser, extending back to Pearl River. This description causes sufficient embarrassment in determining the form or figure which the land ought to have; however, as he calls the front the distance from Saucier's plantation to the Bayou of Mosquito Village, the depth, as far as Pearl River, can be understood only by two lines drawn from the said last two points, so as to strike the said Pearl River; that is to say, the easternmost of the three which take this name; and these lines ought natural The United States v. Boisdoré et al. ly to run to the west, one from Saucier's plantation, and the other from Mosquito Village. The little sketch (crouquis) annexed will give you a clearer idea. Though there is no geometrical precision, it approaches, notwithstanding, to the figure of the place. You will send it back to me when you have finished the business," &c. On the 30th of May, 1810, Pintado, the Surveyor-General, returned a certificate, with a map. In the certificate he says that "the map represents and shows the tract of land, with the shape, figure, and extent, and the boundaries, bounds, and confines, natural and artificial, which should serve for limits," and then refers to a more particular map to be made hereafter by any one of his deputies, or by any other person, "so that the nortnern boundary shall be bounded by lands belonging to the king, on the south by the bank of the sea, on the east by the same and a part of the Bay of St. Louis, and on the west by the above-mentioned Pearl River." In order to understand the argument and decision, it will be necessary to insert a sketch of this map. The United States v. Boisdoré et al. Under the act of Congress passed on the 25th of April, 1812 (1 Land Laws, 208), this claim was presented to the commissioner appointed for the district east of Pearl River. Mr. Crawford, the commissioner, reported that the land was not cultivated, and not inhabited. Under the act of Congress passed on the 3d of March, 1819 (1 Land Laws, 316), the claim was again presented to the register and receiver of the land-office at Jackson Court-House, who made the following special report :— "No. 2. This claim is founded on an order of survey issued by Governor Miro in favor of Louis Boisdoré, confirmed to his widow, Marguerite Doussin, by the Intendant Morales, 4th April, 1808. Although a map or conjectural plan of the limits of the above claim, made by the Surveyor-General, Pintado, the 30th of May, 1810, accompanies the title papers, yet it does not appear to be the result of an actual survey, nor to have been made with geometrical precision, but merely intended for the direction of such persons as might be employed to make the survey. No survey appears to have been made. This claim extends from the Bay of St. Louis to the mouth of Pearl River, and is supposed to contain several hundred thousand acres. "Land-office, Jackson Court-House, July 11th, 1820. (Signed,) "Attest: WILLIAM BARTON, Register. Under the act of the 24th of May, 1828 (1 Land Laws, 445), ⚫ this claim was again presented to the register and receiver at Jackson Court-House. All the documents were submitted to this board, together with the depositions of sundry persons, showing the genuineness of the signatures of the Spanish officers, the locality of the land, and its possession. The commissioners made the following report: "Remarks. "Claim No. 4. This claim is founded on an order of survey issued by Governor Miro, in favor of Louis Boisdoré, and confirmed to his widow, Marguerite Doussin, by the Intendant Morales, 4th April, 1808. It does not appear by the title papers that an actual survey was made with geometrical precision; yet a map, or conjectural plan, definitely fixing the limits of the claim, was made by the Surveyor-General, Pintado, the 30th of May, 1810. This claim extends from Pearl River to the Bay of St. Louis, and is supposed to contain about one hundred thousand acres. |