Winter et al. v. United States.
the greatest attention the regulation made by the Count O'Reilly, of the 18th February, 1770, as well as that circulated by governor Gayoso, of January 1st, 1798, and after he had taken counsel of the assessor of the intendancy and of other persons skilled in those matters." The regulations of Morales, then, did not profess to establish any new system, but merely to give publicity to an old one, and point out with more precision those things which were esteemed essential to obtain a complete right of property in granted lands. No substantial alterations were made, and indeed their similitude to those of the Count O'Reilly in their main parts cannot escape observation, and, in a word, a close scrutiny will prove that. It was no idle assertion of the intendant that he had examined the regulations of the Count O'Reilly with the greatest attention. 2 Land Laws, App. 209.
It cannot admit of doubt, that even long before O'Reilly was sent to Louisiana, there were surveyors in each of the districts of the province, who were salaried officers, and whose duty it was to survey grants of land when called on by grantees for that purpose, and to make an official report of such surveys to the governor-general or granting power, which then became an official record.
It appears from the letter of the king's minister, the Marquis de Grimaldi, that O'Reilly had appointed surveyors for districts in the province at half their former salary, which appointment the king approved. 2 Land Laws, App. 530.
Indeed, it is a matter of public history, that surveyors were always "part and parcel" of the government of the Province of Louisiana.
If we look to the official records of the Spanish government in Florida, we shall find, that at least as early as 1791, instructions, emanating from the provincial government, were given to surveyors, as to the manner of measuring and establishing the boundary lines of granted lands. 1 Land Laws, App. 1004. In that year, Quesadee, governor of Florida, appointed Pedro Marrot to the office of surveyor-general, and prescribed several standing rules for the direction of that officer.
The 9th rule is, "When lands are to be surveyed bounding
