by J. J. Bowden
Antonio J. Ortiz and Nicolas Pino filed suit[1] 1 in the Court of Private Land Claims on March 2, 1893, to secure the juridical recognition of the Badito Grant. They alleged that a grant had been made to Antonio Armijo and fifteen associates in 1835, by Governor Albino Perez with he consent of the Territorial Deputation and, thereafter, possession of the premises had been delivered to the grantees, The grant was described as being bounded:
On the north, by the lomas; on the east, by the road from Santa Fe to Real de Dolores; and on the west, by the lands of Juan Salas, commonly known as the Alamitos Grant at the Penasco de la Aguila.
In support of their claim the plaintiffs filed a number of Spanish documents which showed that Antonio Armijo, for himself and his associates, had petitioned the Ayuntamiento of Santa Fe for the grant for agricultural purposes. The Ayuntamiento appointed a commission December 19, 1835, to investigate the status of the land. Nine days later, the committee advised the Ayuntamiento that the land was vacant. On December 31, 1835, the Ayuntamiento, after considering the matter, referred the request to the Territorial Deputation for its further action.[2] While there was direct evidence that Perez made the grant with the consent of the Territorial Deputation, the plaintiffs contended that the recital in the instrument dated June 8, 1840, wherein Alcalde Felipe Sena gave Juan Ortiz possession of “three hundred varas of land for cultivation at the place referred to (Badito) which general boundaries are already named in the grant of said place,” indicated that a grant, in fact had been made. The plaintiffs asserted that the grant, which they estimated to contain 1,350 acres, had been continuously occupied by the original grantees or their heirs, assigns and legal representatives since 1835, and that they had acquired interests in the premises by inheritance and purchase. The government filed a general answer and a motion to make seventeen persons, who had patented homestead entries within the boundaries of the grant, parties defendant.
The case came up for trial on October 3, 1898. On the following day the court announced its decision rejecting the grant on the ground that the only evidence of a grant was the instrument of June 8, 1840, and it was either an allotment or a grant. If it was an allotment, it could not be confirmed because the grant of which it was a part should have been submitted, and if it was a grant, it could not be confirmed because an alcalde had no authority to make a valid grant.[3]
[1] Ortiz v. United States, No. 19 (Mss., Records of the Ct. Pvt. L. Cl.).
[2] Archive No. 68 (Mss., Records of the A.N.M.).
[3]4 Journal 33 (Mss., Records of the Ct. Pvt. L. Cl.).
el badito grant; J.J. Bowden’s research on land grants.