HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



119 



to that territory, who had never been accustomed to 

 any other than American law, administered by Ameri 

 can courts. There they found their rights of property 

 and person subject to the uncertain, and frequently 

 most oppressive, operation of. laws written in a lan 

 guage they did not understand, and founded on prin 

 ciples, in many respects, new to them. They complained 

 that the alcaldes, or judges, most of whom had been 

 appointed or elected before the immigration had com 

 menced, were not lawyers by education or profession ; 

 and, being Americans, they were, of course, unac 

 quainted with the laws of Mexico, or the principles of 

 the civil law on which they are founded. 



"As our own laws, except for the collection of 

 revenue, the transmission of the mails, and establish 

 ment of postoffices, had not been extended over that 

 territory, the laws of Mexico, as they existed at thp 

 conclusion of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, regu 

 lating the relations of the inhabitants of California 

 with each other, necessarily remained in force ;* yet, 

 there was not a single volume containing those laws, 

 as far as I know or believe, in the whole territory, 

 except, perhaps, in the governor's office at Monterey. 



" The magistrates, therefore, could not procure 

 them, and the administration of justice was, neces 

 sarily, as unequal and fluctuating as the opinions of 

 the judges were conflicting and variable. 



"There were no fee-bills to regulate costs; and, 

 consequently, the most cruel exactions, in many in 

 stances, were practised. 



" The greatest confusion prevailed respecting titles 

 to property, and the decision of suits involving the 



* See American Insurance Company, et al. vs. Canter, 1st Peters' 

 Supreme Court Reports, 542. 



