Land Grants in California

While under the Mexican system, any Californian desiring a land grant applied to the Governor, listing his or her name, age, country, vocation, quantity and description of the land, and a hand-drawn map, or diseño, of the boundaries and natural features of the desired land. After consulting local officials, the Governor would decide and, if he approved, issue a formal grant in writing to the applicant. This system resulted in extremely large land grants; most were for thousands -- or even tens of thousands -- of acres. Thus a small number of wealthy landowners ran ranchos that employed large numbers of people.

To iron out the confusion over land ownership in California, Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California" in 1851. This legislation established the California Land Commission, which had responsibility for adjudicating the validity of claims to Spanish and Mexican land grants. The new law placed the burden of proof on the claimant. Because it provided for appeals of the Commission's decisions to the Federal courts, titles to these claims were often tied up in litigation for years. So, added to the conflict between the existing population and the increasing stream of new immigrants looking for places to live was uncertainty about ownership of large portions of land. Because litigation over land grants lasted years (and sometimes decades), squatting became widespread and sometimes resulted in violent clashes. Additionally, many claimants could not afford the lengthy litigation and, as a result, lost their lands.