Mile Marker 158.5 Upper Mississippi River

Is possible because the Treaty with the United States, France and Spain excluded the transfer of title of certain property from France to the United States. Article 2 of the Treaty of Cession describes all property transferred from France to the United States which are not private property.

It is the opinion of the author of this article that the phrase “ which are not private property” creates a fourth party to the Treaty of Cession which in modern time would be referred to as a  “class” which includes all French and Spanish Grant Holders.

The respective governments at the time issued French and Spanish Land Grants. In as much as all authority of the French Republic and Spain to issue Land Grants ceased at the conclusion of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, all French and Spanish Land Grant owners holdings were private property and excluded from title transfer of possessions from French to the United States

A Local historian claims in his book that 18% of Jefferson County Missouri is in Spanish land grants

During the period of time between the treaty’s and the land trials of 1818 there were no legal transfers of land. The land courts rejected those land grants as fraudulent.

The decision of the land courts of 1818 is thought to remain unchallenged at the conclusion of the court proceedings.              

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http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/louistxt.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase