''Republic of Texas v. Inglish'', Dallam 608 (1844), was a case decided by the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

which held that to be a valid claim for land, the land claim must have been authorized by the constitution after March 2, 1836; or by authority under Mexican law prior to that date.

Background

On December 25, 1835, Joseph Inglish and his family immigrated to Texas, in what is now Lamar County. Inglish subsequently died on February 17, 1836. In 1841, his heirs brought a lawsuit for a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and a

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

of land from the Republic. A jury found for the heirs and the Republic appealed.

Decision

Judge William E. Jones determined that there were two questions to answer. First, did Inglish qualify for land under Republic law or constitution. Second, if not, did he qualify under Mexican law. Jones first noted that Inglish died prior to the

Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and was form ...

. Since Texas was not an independent nation at the time of his death, he could not obtain title to land or a grant of land on that basis. By the same token, the laws of the Mexican state of

Coahuila y Texas Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) for ...

prohibited any new colonization and concurrent grant of land after May 2, 1835. Jones noted that Inglish entered after the Mexican law cut off new property grants and died before Texas could grant land. He further noted that this was not for the courts to remedy, but was up to the legislative branch.''Inglish'', at 610.

References

{{reflist, 30em Law of the Republic of Texas 1844 in case law 1844 in the Republic of Texas Real property law 1840s in Texas Lamar County, Texas