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 the 

 conclusion of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, regu- 

 latinn- 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 



♦ Sec American Insurance Company, et al. vs. Canter, 1st Peters' 

 Supreme Court Reports, 542. 



