Law v. United States.
pleted, and held good and valid, had the said province of Louisiana continued under the government of France;" that the United States "have sold or otherwise disposed of the whole, or a large part of the said land to various persons," unknown to petitioner, against whom he seeks no relief, "being content to take scrip for the land so disposed of," &c.; that "his claim for the said land has not been submitted to and reported by any of the tribunals constituted by the laws of the United States to decide or report upon land claims, and he prays that the validity of his claim may be inquired into and decided," &c.
In glancing at the history of the events immediately preceding, and about the period of the alleged origin of this claim, we find, that by royal letters patent, dated 14th September, 1712, Louis XIV. granted to Crozat the exclusive commerce of Louisiana with mining privileges; (see extract from grant to Crozat, appendix to Clarke's compilation of Land Laws, p. 944); that in 1717, Crozat's grant was surrendered to the crown, (see note to said extract, and Marbois' Louisiana, p. 110); that in August, 1717, during the regency of the Duke of Orleans, in the minority of Louis XV., (Louis XIV. having died in 1715,) the Company of the West was created by royal letters patent, in the form of an edict or proclamation, a translation of which is to be found in White's Recep. Vol. I. p. 641 to 652 inclusive; that by the 5th art. of that edict there were granted to said company, "all the lands, coasts, ports, havens, and islands, which compose the Province of Louisiana, in the same way and extent as we have granted them to M. Crozat, by our letters patent of 14th September, 1712," &c. It will be observed, that by the 3d art. of the said grant to Crozat, mines abandoned three years reverted to the crown; although the 8th art. of the edict of 1717, appears to have conferred on the Company of the West the power also to grant land in freehold. It appears further, that the private bank which John Law had established in Paris, in 1716, under the auspices of the regent, was supplanted in 1718, by the establishment of the Royal Bank, (Chambers' General Biog. Dict. Vol. 20, p. 88; Encycl. Amer. Vol. 7, p. 453); at the head of the affairs of which, Martin states that the "original projector continued," and "availing himself of the thirst for
