OPINION OF MR. JUSTICE WYLIE, OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AS TO THE RIGHTS OF PRE-EMPTORS ON THE "SOSCOL RANCH" IN CALIFORNIA [Heading of first page: SUPREME COURT DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. AT CHAMBERS, AUGUST 16, 1866. LEVI H. WHITNEY VS. JOHN B. FRISBIE.]

Washington: Gibson Brothers, Printers, 1866. 16pp. Original printed wrappers with wrapper title, as issued [minor toning, a few small chips to wrapper edges], stitched. Old vertical fold. Very Good.

In 1844 Mexican Governor Micheltorena of California granted 84,000 acres of land to Col. General Mariano G. Vallejo for $5,000. This land is located in present day Napa County and Solano County, California. In 1851 Congress appointed Commissioners to determine the validity of private land claims in California. In 1853 Vallejo filed a claim for Rancho Suscol pursuant to the Land Act of 1851. The land grant, initially confirmed by lower courts, was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1862. The Rancho was deemed public lands of the United States. But during the litigation Vallejo had sold Rancho Suscol to his son-in-law, John B. Frisbie, who then sold sections to San Francisco investors.
Frisbie evidently had a penchant for selling the same land multiple times. After the Supreme Court had disallowed the grant, passage of a Pre-Emption Law permitted good-faith purchasers to buy back their properties at a nominal price, after compliance with certain conditions. Justice Wylie here enjoins Frisbie from a subsequent sale of property previously sold to a purchaser who had complied with those conditions.
Cowan 370. OCLC 12295817 [6] [as of July 2014].