On May 12, 1827, the junta de fomento presented an iniciativa de ley, or general system of laws for the federal district, with the recommendation that the same be adopted by the government, as a kind of constitution for California and the other territories. There is no evidence that it was so adopted; and indeed, I find nothing to show that any general system of organic law was ever adopted as a whole; but it would seem that the different branches of territorial government were provided for by separate laws as needed from time to time.[1]
- ↑ For an account of the acts of the junta de fomento, see chap. i., this volume. Of this iniciativa de ley, I shall not attempt to present more than a brief résumé or framework, as follows: 1. Attributes of the president as gov-
can or foreign, as will inhabit and cultivate them. 2. A person desiring lands shall, in a petition to the governor, express his name, country, etc., and shall describe the land by means of a map. 3. The governor shall at once ascertain if the conditions, as regards land and claimant, are those required by the law of 1824, and may consult the respective municipal authority. 4. This done, the governor may accede or not to the petition, according to the laws. 5. Grants to families or private persons shall not be valid without the previous consent of the diputacion, to which body the expediente shall be forwarded. 6. Not obtaining the approval of the diputacion, the governor shall report to the supreme government, with the necessary documents for its decision. 7. Grants to contractors for many families will not be valid until approved by the supreme government, to which must be sent the necessary documents, including the approval of the diputacion. 8. The governor shall sign a document to serve as a title to the party interested. 9. A record shall be made, in a book kept for the purpose, of all petitions and grants, including maps; and a quarterly report must be made to the supreme government. 10. No contract for a new settlement will be admitted, unless the contractor binds himself to introduce as settlers at least twelve families. 11. Non-compliance with the terms within a proper designated period shall invalidate the grant; but the governor may invalidate it in proportion to the part fulfilled. 12. The colonist will prove compliance with his contract before the municipal authority, in order, on the necessary record being made, to secure his right of ownership, with power to dispose of it. 13. New settlements shall be built with all possible regularity, and shall follow the rules of existing laws for other settlements. 14. The minimum of irrigable land to one person shall be 200 varas square; of agricultural lands, 800 varas square; and of grazing lands, 1,200 varas square. 15. Land for a house-lot shall be 100 varas. 10. Spaces between colonized lands may be given to adjoining proprietors who have cultivated their lands with most application, and have not received the full amount allowed by the law; or to their children, who may desire to combine the possessions of their families. 17. In those territories where there are missions, the lands occupied by them cannot be colonized at present.
In Halleck's Report, 121-2, a law of April 6, 1830, is cited, which authorized the reservation or taking of lands for forts, etc.; and also repealed art. 7 of the law of 1824 by prohibiting frontier colonization by adjacent foreigners. At least twice in these years, Oct. 7, 1827, and July 15, 1830, general orders were issued in California for owners of lands to appear and give information about them and the titles. Olvera, Doc., MS., 1; Dept St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxi. 3.
