England grounded its American title on Cabot’s voyage of discovery.
Evidence
No one of the powers of Europe gave its full assent to this principle more unequivocally than England. The documents upon this subject are ample and complete. So early as the year 1496, her monarch granted a commission to the Cabots to discover countries then unknown to Christian people and to take possession of them in the name of the King of England. Two years afterwards, Cabot proceeded on this voyage and discovered the continent of North America, along which he sailed as far south as Virginia. To this discovery the English trace their title. — Supreme Court of the United States (Marshall Court, 1823), Johnson & Graham’s Lessee v. M’Intosh,…, 180
Categorization
- XREF: The ‘unknown to Christian people’ limitation shows the doctrine’s explicitly religious/Christian frame — a direct tie to the colonialism reading in Eco-Justice. — connects to: Royal charters expressly conveying soil prove the Crown claimed land rights over Indian territory. — Supreme Court of the United States (Marshall Court, 1823), Johnson & Graham’s Lessee v. M’Intosh,…, 197