This case involves the validity of the title of the United States to a part of Mare Island in San Francisco Bay, which was reserved for public purposes by Presidential Proclamation in 1850, was selected by the Secretary as a navy yard pursuant to act of Congress, was reserved for that purpose by Presidential Order in 1853, and since 1854 has been so used.
The lands in question are in the area acquired as a result of the Mexican War by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, July 4, 1848, 9 Stat. 922, which guaranteed the property rights of Mexicans in the annexed territory. The United States claims under deed to it in 1853 by Bissell and Aspinwall and another, who derived their title under grant of May 20, 1841, by Alvarado, Mexican Governor of California, to Castro, a Mexican citizen, of the island La Yegu (Mare Island) 'in all its extent.' Respondents claim under a patent issued by California to Darlington in 1857, purporting to convey the land in question as a part of the swamp or overflowed lands granted to the state by the Swamp Lands Act of Congress, Sept. 28, 1850, c. 84, 9 Stat. 519, 43 U.S.C.A. §§ 982-984.
Upon the military occupation of California during the Mexican War the United States military commander had proclaimed officially that Mexican land titles would receive due recognition by the United States, and article 8 of the Treaty of 1848 with Mexico declared that the property rights of Mexicans in the annexed territory should be 'inviolably respected.' After the admission of California to statehood, September 9, 1850, 9 Stat. 452, Congress adopted the Mexican Claims Act of March 3, 1851, 9 Stat. 631, which established a Board of Land Commissioners with authority, upon petition of those claiming under Mexican or Spanish grants of land in the annexed territory, to pass upon the validity of the grants. Right to a review of the Board's determination by the District Court, and the Supreme Court of the United States, was allowed the claimants and the Government. By section 12 of the Act of August 31, 1852, 10 Stat. 76, 99, the Attorney General was given authority over appeals from decisions of the Board adverse to the interests of the United States.
Bissell and Aspinwall, the grantors of the United States, filed their petition before the Board, seeking confirmation of their title under the Castro grant of May 20, 1841. After hearing evidence the Board confirmed their title by decree of May 8, 1855. Upon appeal by the United States to the District Court for Northern California, the decree of the Board was affirmed. Appeal by the Government to the Supreme Court of the United States, allowed by the District Court April 1, 1857, was dismissed by the government in the same year. The decree of the District Court was not signed or entered until a decree nunc pro tunc as of March 2, 1857, was signed, filed and entered on April 15, 1930.
While the proceedings were still pending before the Board, the claimants, Bissell and Aspinwall, on December 15, 1852, executed a contract to sell Mare Island to the United States, and on January 4, 1853, for a consideration of $83,491, they joined in a deed to the United States, without covenants except for further assurance. The deed purported to convey Mare Island, 'including all the Tule or low land and marsh belonging to the same or which has ever been reputed or claimed to belong to the same. * * *' On February 28, 1853, they executed a bond in favor of the United States in the sum of $200,000, conditioned upon the validity of their contract and the conveyance of 'the entire and absolute fee simple Estate in the said tract of land known as Mare Island.' The bond recited that they 'shall at all times hereafter indemnify and save harmless the United States against any claim or title to the said tract called Mare Island and its appurtenances which may be set up by or through any person or persons claiming under Victor Castro and his assigns,' and that they should 'also indemnify and save harmless the United States against any adverse claim or title in any other person or persons or body politic which may within two years from the date hereof, be made and thereafter be successfully established.'