ARGUMENT OF EDMUND RANDOLPH, IN THE CASE OF HART VS. BURNETT ET AL. [REPORTED BY CHARLES A. SUMNER.]

[Sacramento, 1860. 33pp. Caption title [as issued]. Disbound with light toning, light spotting. Lacks the wrappers, which contain the imprint, else Very Good.

This is the record of Randolph's Argument before the California Supreme Court in the much-litigated San Francisco Pueblo Land Titles case, which questioned the validity of Peter Smith Land Titles. Dr. Peter Smith, to whom the City owed a great deal of money, levied on City lands and sold many parcels of them. Squatters on those lands refused to recognize the so-called 'Peter Smith Titles.' (truncated) Upon the outcome of the case, which involved legal issues arising from California's transfer of sovereignty from Mexico to the United States, depended the titles of hundreds of parcels. The Court would hold that San Francisco was a "pueblo," with a pueblo's title to lands within its limits; these lands were held in trust for public use, and hence could not be taken by Sheriff's writ. Dr. Smith thus could not acquire title to those lands by levying writs of execution, nor could subsequent purchasers from Smith.
The University of California-Irvine owns the pamphlet in this form, without wrappers; other institutional locations exist for Randolph's wrappered argument. .
OCLC 36436506 [1]. Greenwood 1339 [wrappers]. Not in Cowan or Drury. (Inventory #: 27169)