A Louisiana lawyer sought a loan from a government agency on behalf of a client, offering a tract of land as collateral. The agency said it would grant the loan if the lawyer could show that his client had clear title to the land. A title search was made that went back to 1803, but the agency said that it wanted the title to be cleared for the years prior to 1803. The lawyer spent a frustrating month attempting to satisfy the requirement and finally wrote agency officials this letter:
I am now able to satisfy your requirement that title to this land be cleared for the years prior to 1803. Louisiana was purchased from France in that year. France acquired title to the land from Spain by right of conquest. Spain obtained the land through right of discovery ensuing from voyages made by Christopher Columbus.
Colombus’s expeditions were sanctioned and financed by the then reigning monarch, Isabella of Spain. Queen Isabella, a pious and…
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