of these municipalities, the effect of the Van Ness Ordinance, and
the confirmatory act of the Legislature, were all discussed with a
fullness and learning which left nothing unexplained or to be added.
For weeks afterwards the judges gave the most laborious attention to
the questions presented, and considered every point and the argument
on both sides of it with anxious and painful solicitude to reach a
just conclusion. The opinion of the court, prepared by Mr. Justice
Baldwin, is without precedent for the exhaustive learning and research
it exhibits upon the points discussed. The Court held, among other
things, that, at the date of the conquest and cession of the country, San
Francisco was a pueblo, having the rights which the law of Mexico
conferred upon such municipal organizations; that as such pueblo it
had proprietary rights to certain lands, which were held in trust for
the public use of the city, and were not subject to seizure and sale
under execution; that such portions as were not set apart for common
use or special purposes could be granted in lots to private persons by
its ayuntamiento or by alcaldes or other officers who represented or
had succeeded to its powers; that the lands, and the trusts upon which
they were held, were public and municipal in their nature, and since
the organization of the State were under its control and supervision;
that the act of the Legislature confirming the Van Ness Ordinance
was a proper exercise of the power of the State, and vested in the
possessors therein described, as against the city and State, a title
to the lands mentioned; and that the city held the lands of the
pueblo, not legally disposed of by its officers, unaffected by
sheriff's sales under executions against her.

This decision was of the greatest importance both to the city and
the occupants of land within its limits. The Van Ness Ordinance had
reserved from grant for the uses of the city all the lots which it