Finding Aids > UC Berkeley > Bancroft Library

Brought to you by the Online Archive of California (OAC),
an initiative of the California Digital Library

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb109nb422

Collection Summary

Collection Title:
Documents pertaining to the adjudication of private land claims in California circa 1852-1892

Collection Number:
BANC MSS Land Case Files 1852-1892

Microfilm:
BANC MSS C-A 300 FILM

Creators :
United States. District Court (California)

Extent:
Number of containers: 857 Cases. 876 Portfolios
Linear feet: Approximately 75
Microfilm: 200 reels
10 digital objects (1494 images)

Repository:
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/

Abstract:
In 1851 the U.S. Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" which required all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their title for confirmation before the Board of California Land Commissioners. Land from titles not confirmed became part of the public domain. This Act placed the burden of proof of title on landholders and initiated a lengthy process of litigation that resulted in most Mexican Californians, or Californios, losing their titles. While 604 of the 813 claims brought before the Board were confirmed, most decisions were appealed to U.S. District Court and some on to U.S. Circuit Court and the Supreme Court. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and surveyors, and took an average of 17 years to resolve. The records of the District Court cases, the Land Case Files, were deposited on permanent loan in The Bancroft Library by the U.S. District Court in 1961. There are 857 total cases: Northern District Cases 1-458 and Southern District Cases 1-399 (see "Additional Notes on the Collection" for a note on case number discrepancies). Materials include transcripts, witness depositions, materials presented as evidence, and other legal documents. Most maps were transferred to the Map Collection of The Bancroft Library for separate cataloging (see: Maps of private land grant cases of California).

Languages Represented:
Collection materials are in English
and Spanish

Physical Location:
Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

View options:

• Standard

• Entire finding aid