Abstract
Lawyers, scholars and commentators have struggled for decades to articulate the proper role of Spanish and Mexican law and culture in the context of land grant litigation. Historians and legal scholars have suggested that the clash of two distinct and incompatible land tenure systems was, and still is, at the core of the issue. 1 Other scholars and commentators posit that land grant policy and litigation was driven by the United States' early twentieth century quest to organize its public domain 2 and the unscrupulous efforts of land speculators. 3 The efforts of academics, for the most part, did not provide the assistance or guidance needed by litigators advocating for the descendants of the original land grant settlers in twentieth and twenty-first century American courts. Certainly, the litigation did not solve the disputes over the common lands of the southern Colorado and northern New Mexico land grants. 4 Disputes regarding Spanish and Mexican land grants have engaged local and national courts for more than 150 years. 5 None has invoked more litigation, 6 academic literature, 7 and lore 8 than those addressing the use of the common lands of the former Sangre de Cristo Land Grant. 9 The latest chapter in the litigation concerning the common lands of the Sangre de Cristo Grant is documented in Lobato v. Taylor, 10 the Colorado Supreme Court's most recent attempt at resolving a dispute that has consumed local residents for the greater part of two centuries. Scholars and academics have analyzed ...