The Right of the Citizens of the several States to hold title in allodium

The Right of the Citizens of the several States to hold title in allodium.
The Supreme Court and Lower Courts Affirm That Americans are  Sovereign Citizens.
To fully comprehend the expanse of the unalienable Rights possessed by Americans at the close
of the Revolution it is only necessary to examine early court decisions. Chisholm v. Georgia 2
U.S. 419, 2 Dall.419,1 L.ED.440 (1793) “At the Revolution, the Sovereignty devolved on the
people; and they are truly the Sovereigns of the country but they are Sovereigns without
subjects…” Afroyim V Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967) “In the United States the people are
sovereign , and the government cannot sever its relationship to the people by taking away their
citizenship.” Lansing V Smith, 4 Wendell9, N.Y. (1829) “The people of the state, as the
successors of its former sovereign are entitled to the rights which formerly belonged to the king
by his own prerogative.” People v.Herkimer, 4 Cowen 345,348 N.Y. (1825) “The people have
been ceded all the rights of the King the former sovereign.”
As noted within the preceding paragraph early court decisions recognized that American Citizens
were now “sovereigns without subjects” and held all of the Rights which formerly belonged to
the King by his own prerogative. ln Lansing v. Smith the Court used the word”prerogative” in
its decision. “Prerogative ” is defined as: “an exclusive right, privilege exercised by virtue of
rank or office.” (The Random House Dictionary of the English Language)
Therefore, after the inception of the new Republic, it was recognized by the Courts that
Americans now held exclusive Rights, which formerly belonged to the King alone. Americans
identified such Rights as “unalienable Rights,” which emanated from the throne of God.

                                                                            The Citizens Right to Hold  Title To Land In Allodium

One Right held by the King, but no others, was the Right to hold title to land in allodium.
“The King of England held ownership of land under a different title and with far greater powers
than any of his subjects. Though the people of England held fee simple titles to their land, the
King actually owned all the land in England through his allodial title, and though all the land
was, in the feudal system, none of the fee simple titles were of equal weight and dignity with the
Kings title, the land always remaining allodial in favor of the King.” Gilsbert of Mons, Chonique,  Ch.43, p. 75 (ed. Vanderkindere).

Thus, it is relatively easy to deduce that allodial lands and titles are the highest form of lands and
titles known to Common Law. At the Revolution, the Common Law was the municipal law of
England.
To fully understand the Citizen’s Right to own property it is necessary to understand the
definition of the word allodium.
Webster’s dictionary (1825 Ed) states that allodium is “land which is absolute property of the
owner, real estate held in absolute independence, without being subject to any rent, service, or
acknowledgement to a superior. lt is thus opposed to feud.”
Take note of the preceding sentence, “It is thus opposed to feud.” Generally, land titles are either
allodial in nature where a man or woman holds the title to land by Right, and he or she does not have
to pay a form of rent such as the “properly tax” or perform a service to or for a lord in order to
keep title to the land, or…. land titles are feudal in nature where a man must pay a rent or provide
a service to or for his superior in order to remain on the land. With any type of feudal title the
man or woman NEVER owns the land. At the inception of the Republic it was determined that
all land titles in America would be allodial in nature, and that all feudal tenures were abolished.

It should be noted that it is not possible for a Republic and a feudal system to coexist within the
same state. Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution guarantees the Arizona People
a Constitutional Republic: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government…” Further the Arizona Enabling Act also mandates that
Arizona would be a Constitutional Republic. The Arizona Enabling Act at Section 20 reads in
pertinent part: “The constitution (Arizona Constitution) shall be republican in form and make no
distinction in civil or political rights on account of race or color, and shall not be repugnant to
the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of
Independence.’
Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law 1856 notes that ALL titles to land in America are allodial in nature.

Allodium  estates. “Signifies an absolute estate of inheritance, in coutradistinction to a feud.”
2. ” In this country (America) the title to land is essentially allodial, and every tenant in fee
simple has an absolute and perfect title, yet in technical language his estate is called an estate
in fee simple, and the tenure free and common socage. 3 Kent, Com. 390; Cruise, Prel. Dis. c. 1,
13; ‘2B1. Com. 45.” (Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law 1856.)

The initial state constitutions and the Virginia Declaration of Rights written at the time of the
Revolution confirm that the possession of land was an unalienable Right, and as governments
within America were “instituted to secure Rights,” the possession of land must be an unalienable
Right today. If government does not recognize that land ownership remains an unalienable Right
then government has failed to perform its primary duty which is securing the Rights of the
People.
Joseph L. Story appointed by President Madison to the Supreme Court (1811-1845) wrote in his
Commentaries on the Constitution ( I 833): “The sacred rights of property are to be guarded at
every point. I call them sacred, because, if they are unprotected, all other rights become
worthless or visionary. What is personal liberty, if it does not draw after it the right to enjoy the
fruits of our industry? What is political liberty, if it imparts only perpetual poverty to us and all
of our posterity? What is the privilege of the vote, if the majority of the hour may sweep away
the earnings of our whole lives, to gratify the rapacity of the indolent, the cunning, or the
profligate, who are born into power upon the tide of a temporary popularity?”

The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1766) asserts that: “All men are born equally free and
independent and have certain inherent natural rights, of which they can not by any compact,
deprive or divest their posterity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the
means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
The Constitution of Pennsylvania of August 16,1776, affirmed: “That all men are born equally
free and independent, and have certain natural. inherent and inalienable rights. amongst
which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessions and protecting
property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

The Constitution of Vermont of July 8,1777, affirmed: “That all men are bom equally free and
independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable_rights, amongst which are the
enjoying and defending life and liberty: acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and
pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

The Constitution of Massachusetts of October 25,1780, recognized: “All men are born free and
equal, and have certain natural, inherent  and unalienable rights; among which may be
reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring,
possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and
happiness.”
The Constitution of New Hampshire of June 2,1784, affirmed: “All men have certain natural,
essential, and inherent rights; among which are – the enjoying and defending life and liberty –
acquiring, possessing and protecting property – and in a word, of seeking and obtaining
happiness.”
Possession of property at the time of the Revolution was defined as: “The detention or enjoyment
of a thing which a man holds or exercises by himself or by another who keeps or exercises it in
his name. By the possession of a thing, we always conceive the condition, in which not only
one’s own dealing with the thing is physically possible, but every other person’s dealing with
it is capable of being excluded.” (See: Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law 1856)

After reading the above state constitutions it is quite easy to deduce that at the Revolution the
possession of property was considered an inalienable Right.
It should also be understood that a natural Right referred to in the constitutions noted above was a
Right endowed by God. A natural Right was founded upon God’s Law or in the terms of that day
the Law of Nature and Nature’s God. A natural Right as it originated with God must be termed
an unalienable Right.

Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-1769) at number 41 stated:
“This law of nature. being coeval with mankind and dictated bv God himself. is of course
superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries. and at all
times: no human laws are of any validity. if contrary to this: and such of them as are valid..
derive all their force, and all their authority, mediaty or immediately. from this original.”

Further, early court decisions of the 19ft century specifically affirm that the title to land held by
all Americans was allodial in nature.

Wallace v. Harmstal- 44Pa. 492 (1863) “I see no way of solving this question, except by
determining whether our Pennsylvania titles are allodial or feudal….I venture to suggest that
much of the confusion of ideas that prevails on this subject has come from our retaining, since the
American Revolution, the feudal nomenclature of estates and tenures, as fee, freehold, heirs,
feoffment, and the like. …We are then to regard the Revolution and these Acts of Assembly
as emancipating every acre of soil of Pennsylvania from the grand characteristics of the
feudal system. Even to the lands held by the proprietaries themselves, they held them as
other citizens held, under the Commonwealth, and that by title purely allodial.”

hlatthews v. Ward,l0 Gill & J. (Md.) 443 (1839), “…afterthe American Revolutiono lands in
this state (Maryland) became allodial, subject to no tenure, nor to any services incident there to.”

Stanton v. Sullivon, 63 R.I. 216,7 A.696 (1839) “Thus, it is relatively easy to deduce that all
allodial lands and titles are the highest form of lands and titles known_to the Common Law.

An estate of inheritance without condition, belonging to the owner, and alienable by him,
transmissible to his heirs absolutely and simply, is an absolute estate in perpetuity and the largest
estate a man can have, being in fact allodial in nature.”

In 1881 the 46ft Congress commissioned the work: with
Statistics within this work pursuant to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 are the following
excerpts pertaining to feudal tenures (conditions) in America.
“The ordinance of 1787 was the first general legislation by the Congress of the United States on
the subject of real property. In it the leading features of feudalism are specifically repealed.
Since the period of its passage the policy of the jurisprudence of the United States is not to
encourage restraints upon the power of alienation of land. Free and unconditional alienation is
now the rule of the National Government in the disposal of the public domain, and encouraged by
all the states and Territories in land transfers.” (Page 156, paragraph 5)

“Most of the feudal incidents of tenure (which in the colonies were mere form) were abolished in
many of the States after the Revolution, and by the United States in the immortal ordinance of
1787, the most progressive and republican act ever performed by a nation in relation to the
estates of her people. It made the individual absolutely independent of the State, and the
entire owner of his or her home.”  (Page 157, paragraph 1)  Note that this paragraph confirms
that feudalism and a Republican form of government cannot coexist. To continue:
“All lands granted or patented before the Revolution, within the colonies, were held by socage
tenure. After this came the allodial legislation by States and the National Government. (Page 157,
paragraph 4) (See: 3 Kent, 512)

“The highest title to land in the United States is a government grant, a patent either from the
National Government or a State.” (Page 157, paragraph 10)
A Government grant for land has been, and is held to be , a contract executed.” Fletcher V Peck
6 Cranch 87. (Page 157, paragraph 11l)

“This statute (Northwest Ordinance of 1787) struck the key-note of our liberal system of land
law, not only in the States formed out of the public domain, but also in the older States. The
doctrine of tenure is entirely exploded; it has no existence. Though the word may be used for the
sake of convenience, the last vestige of feudal import has been torn from it. The individual title
derived from the Government involves the entire transfer of the ownership of the soil. It is
purely allodial, with all the incidents pertaining to that title, as substantial as in the infancy of
Teutonic civilization.” (Page 158, paragraph 4)

The Federal Land Patent

The preceding paragraphs, excerpts from a work commissioned by the 46th Congress, make the
statements that a government grant for land is the “highest form of title” and that said patent is
“contract executed.” This document also states that a government transfer of the soil to a Citizen
was “purely allodial.” These excerpts refer to a Federal Land Patent.

Walton v. United States,415 f 2d 121,123 (10th cir.1969)”…a patent, once issued, is the
highest evidence of title and is the final determination of the existence of all facts.” Marshall v.
Lsdd.7 Wall, 74 U.S. 106 (1869) “…that the patent carries the fee and is the best title known to
a court of law is settled doctrine of this court.” United States v. Stone 69 U.S. 2 Wall 525
525 (1864) “A patent for land is the highest evidence of title and is conclusive as against the
government and all others claiming under junior patents or titles…”
A man or woman who holds the title to lands by and through a federal land patent can never be
ejected from those lands. A land patent is the legal title to land. It is superior to all equitable
deeds. Note: A tax deed, a warranty deed, and a quit claim deed are all examples of equitable
deeds. That is to say that the aforementioned deeds originate from the body of law known as
Equity. The land patent originates in the Common Law.
Baenell v. Broderick.3S U.S. 436 (1839) “Congress has the sole power to declare the dignity
and effect of titles emanating from the United States, and the whole legislation of the
government in reference to the public lands declares the patent to be the superior and
conclusive evidence of legal title. Until it issues, the fee is in the government, which by the
patent passes to the grantee, and he is entitled to recover the possession in ejectment!’ Sanford V
Sanford,139 US 642 (1891) “ln ejectment the question always is who has the legal title for the
demanded premises, not who ought to have it. In such cases the patent of the government issued
upon the direction of the land department is unassailable.” Johnson v. C,Christian,128 US 374
(1888) “ln the United States courts, a recovery in ejectment can be had upon the strict legal title
only, and a court of law will not uphold or enforce an equitable title to land as a defense in such
action.” Hooper v. Scheimer.64 U.S. 235 (1859) “It is also the settled doctrine of this Court that
no action of ejectment will lie on such an equitable title, notwithstanding a state legislature may
have provided otherwise by statute. The law is only binding on the state courts, and has no force
in the circuit courts of the Union;’ Fenn v Holme, 62 U.S.48l (1858) “The plaintiff in
ejectment must in all cases prove a legal title to the premises in himself, at the time of the demise
laid in the declaration, and evidence of an equitable title will not be sufficient for a recovery.”
The explicit language within the land patent, itself, is further evidence of the allodial nature of the
patent. This excerpt is from a land patent that traces its legal authority to the Homestead Act of
1862.
“NOW KNOW YE, That there is, therefore, granted by the UNITED STATES unto the said
claimant the tract of Land above described; TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said tract of Land,
with the appurtenances thereof, unto the said claimant and to the heirs and assigns of said
claimant forever…(emphasis added to the word: forever) (See: attachment 1)
In addition there are numerous court cases that have established that all conditions attached to the
patented land must be so stated within the patent or they are barred. Summa Corp. v. California
State Lands Commission, 466 U.S. 198 (1984) “California cannot at this late date assert its
public trust easement over petitioner’s property, when petitioner’s predecessors-in-interest had
their interest confirmed without any mention of such an easement in the federal patent
proceedings. The interest claimed bv California is one of such substantial magnitude that.
regardless of the fact that the claim is asserted bv the State in its sovereign capacity. this
interest must  have been presented in the patent proceedings or be barred.”

The federal land patent constitutes a contract between the Citizen and the United States
Government. The state, such as the State of Arizona, is not a party to that contract. If a state
wanted to assert any claim upon that land it had to do so at the patent proceedings, or such a
claim is “barred.”

Why? The U.S. Constitution at Article1,Section 10 states: “No State shall enter into any treaty,
alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit;
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex
post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.”
The courts have found the land patent to be  “contract executed”  (Fletcher v. Peck) and no state
may, pursuant to the United States Constitution at Article l, section10 impair “the obligation of
contracts.”
Lands that were held in trust by the Federal Government prior to being made patent by a Citizen
were termed ungranted or unappropriated public lands. This may be confirmed by reading the
Homestead Act of 1862. (ADD EXCERPT FROM THE HOMESTEAD ACT)

The Arizona Enabling Act at Section 20, Second states in pertinent part: “That the people
inhabiting said proposed State do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to
the unappropriated and ungranted public lands lying within the boundaries thereof…”
As the Arizona people have disclaimed all right and title to said lands forever, and as “all political
power is inherent in the people” (See:Arizona Constitution Article 2, Section 2) The State of
Arizona has no authority to tax, regulate, zone, or in any way enact legislation that affects land,
which was considered “unappropriated and ungranted public lands,” when Arizona was admitted
to the union of the several States.
Further, there is no mention within the Arizona Enabling Act that the Arizona people regain any
right to tax and/or regulate said “ungranted” and “unappropriated” lands when said lands are
granted by the Federal Government to a Citizen at a date subsequent to statehood. The State of
Arizona cannot unilaterally amend the Arizona Enabling Act. Within Section 20 of said Act it
states that the Act can only be amended with the consent of the Arizona People and the United
States.