Snyder v. Sickles

delivered tbe opinion of tbe court.

Titles to lands claimed by individuals in Louisiana at tbe time tbe province was ceded to tbe United States were in most cases incomplete, as tbe governor of the province never possessed tbe power to grant a patent. All be could do was to issue to tbe donee an instrument called a concession or order of survey, which never invested tbe party with a fee-simple title, from which it follows that tbe plaintiff in a suit to recover tbe land must prove that bis claim bad been confirmed under some act of Congress.

Complete titles, of which there were a few when tbe…