US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

In 1795, Baron de Carondelet, the Governor-General of Louisiana, made a grant of land on the Mississippi River upon condition that a road and clearing should be made within one year and an establishment made upon the land within three years.

Neither of these conditions was complied with, nor was possession taken under the grant until after the cession of the country to the United States.

The excuses for these omissions, namely that the grantee was commandant at the post of Arkansas, and that the Indians were hostile, are not satisfactory, because the grantee must have known these circumstances when lie obtained the grant.

According to the principles established in the preceding case of Glenn v. United States, the Spanish authorities would not have confirmed this grant; neither can this Court confirm it.

Moreover, in this case, the land claimed cannot be located by a survey.

This was a petition filed by the heirs of Don Carlos de Vilemont, under the act of 1824 as revived by the act of 1844, praying the confirmation of a grant of land issued by the Baron de Carondelet in 1795.

The circumstances attending the grant are set forth in the opinion of the Court.

The district court decided against the claim and the petitioners appealed to this Court.

In the district court, Horace F. Walworth, Mary B. Miles, and James B. Miles, were made defendants with the United States. chanrobles.com-red

Page 54 U. S. 266