This grant was made in the name of the state of Sonora, and by the proper officer of that state, if it had power to make the grant. The first question, therefore, is as to the power of the state. We held in U.S. v. Coe (just decided) 18 Sup. Ct. 745, that from and after the adoption of the constitution of 1836 no such power was vested in the separate states. But that case called for no determination of the authority those states possessed prior thereto, and in respect to that matter no opinion was expressed. We have in this case, and that immediately following,-Perrin v. U.S., 18 Sup. Ct. 861,-elaborate discussions by counsel as to the title to the public lands within the limits of Mexico, and the respective rights thereto of the general government and the separate states. On the one hand it is insisted that, as in the case of the 13 colonies that formed the United States of America, the vacant lands were the property of the states; that, as no express cession was made by any Mexican states to the general government, the title to those lands remained in the states until at least the formation of the constitution of 1836; and that each state had, therefore, the absolute right to dispose of all within its own limits. On the other hand it is said that, prior to the separation of Mexico from Spain, the lands were the property of the king of Spain, that the separation created a new national government, which succeeded to all the rights of the prior sovereign, including therein the ownership of all vacant lands. We deem it unnecessary to review this discussion, or attempt to settle the disputed question as to the location of the title. In this expediente the treasurer general refers to 'article I . of the sovereign decree number 70 of the general congress of the union,' as conceding to the states the revenues derived form the sale of lands within their respective limits, and upon that and law No. 30 of the congress of the state, relies as the sources of his power to make the conveyance. The state having undoubtedly vested its authority in the treasurer general, the inquiry comes back to the effect of said article 11.
Preliminary thereto we must notice these matters:
The constitutive act of the Mexican federation, adopted January 31, 1824, in articles 5 and 6, declares:
'Art. 5. The nation adopts for the form of its government a popular representative and federal republic.
'Art. 6. Its integral parts are free, sovereign and independent states, in as far as regards exclusively its internal administration, according to the rules laid down in this act, and in the general constitution.' 1 White, New Rec. p. 375.
On October 4, 1824, a constitution was established. In it article 49 reads:
'The laws or decrees, which emanate from the general congress, shall have for their object:
'(1) To sustain the national independence, and to provide for the preservation and security of the nation in its exterior relations.
'(2) To preserve the federal union of the states, and peace and public order in the interior of the confederation.
'(3) To maintain the independence of the states among themselves, so far as respects their government according to the constitutive act and this constitution.
'(4) To sustain the proportional equality of obligations and rights which the states possess in point of law.' 1 White, New Rec. p. 393.
And enumerating in article 50 the powers possessed by the general congress, subdivision 31 reads:
'To dictate all laws and decrees, which may conduce to accomplish the objects spoken of in the forty-ninth article, without intermedling with the interior administration of the states.' 1 White, New Rec. p. 395.
Article 137, defining the attributes of the supreme court, names among others:
'(1) To take cognizance of disputes, which may arise between the different states of the union, whenever there arises litigation in relation to the same, requiring a formal decree, and that arising between a state and one or more of its inhabitants, or between individuals in relation to lands under concessions from different states, without prejudice to the right of the parties to claim the concession from the party which granted it.' 1 White, New Rec. p. 405.