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After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in the early 1850s, the U.S. Congress created a land commission to review claims of land ownership predating California's accession. Hundreds of claims were filed. Many denials were appealed to the federal courts. One such case was Meader v. Norton, decided in the Supreme Court in 1870.

How many California land cases were eventually decided by the U.S. Supreme Court?

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Most of them. I know that's kind of vague but:

...In these five years, 813 cases involving private land claims were heard by the Commission : 604 claim were confirmed; 190 rejected; and the rest were withdrawn. Of these 813 cases, only three were decided by the Board: the rest were appealed to the District court and then a majority of these were finally decided by the Supreme Court.

Grants_of_Land_in_California_Made_by_Spanish_or_Mexican_Authorities_State_Lands_Commission.pdf

So if we take this (lengthy) document at face value, over 400 (most) were settled at the Supreme Court level.

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  • Until someone counts out the land cases in the Supreme Court's own records, this will do. Dec 12, 2017 at 18:46

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