41 Cal. 634 | Cal. | 1871
In the year 1864 the Congress of the United States, by special Act, granted to the State of California the Yosemite Valley and the grove of big trees in Mariposa County in' trust for certain purposes,, and with a proviso that they shall remain inalienable forever. The Act also requires the State to appoint a Board of Commissioners to manage the property in the execution of the trust, with power to make leases of portions of the land for a term or terms not exceeding ten years. In the year 1866 the Legislature
If these were all the facts, there could be no possible doubt of the plaintiff’s right to recover, under the principles announced in Whitney v. Frisbie, 9 Wallace, U. S. R. 191; Hutton v. Frisbie, 37 Cal. 475; reaffirmed in Marquez v. Frisbie, decided at the present term. These cases decide, after elaborate argument, and it may now be considered as finally settled, that if a qualified preemptioner enter upon a portion of the public domain, with the intention to preempt the same, and performs all the acts necessary to perfect his preemption right, except the payment of the purchase price, the Government may, nevertheless, at any time before the price is actually paid or tendered, devote the land to another
But it is claimed that the defendant’s case does not come within the principle of these decisions, because in February, 1868, the Legislature of this State passed an Act which on that day became a law, whereby the State granted to the defendant the premises in controversy. If the grant had been wholly unconditional and absolute in terms, and had taken effect in presentí, it would have been clearly void for want of power in the Legislature to make it. It would have been in open and flagrant violation of the trust on which these lands were conveyed to the State, and, therefore, void. But the Legislature was evidently aware that it had no power to make the grant without the sanction of the United States, nor did it attempt to make it, except with the approval of Congress; for the second section of the Act provides that “this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its ratification by the Congress of the United States.” Congress, however, has not as yet ratified it, and, consequently, the Act has not yet taken effect, and is not as yet in force. As a muniment of title, it is and will continue to be wholly inoperative until ratified by Congress. Hor can the memoiial of the Legislature, requesting Congress to ratify the grant to the defendant, improve his status in the Courts. Whatever consideration these proceedings may be entitled to at the hands of the Commissioners, as an argument why they should forbear, for the present, to press their demand for the possession, it is clear that they establish no equities in the defendant of which the Courts can take cognizance. The Legislature has not, either expressly or by implication, abridged "or modified the powers of the Com
Judgment reversed, with an order to the Court below to enter judgment for the plaintiffs on the findings.