5 - Commentary on Botiller v. Dominguez

Summary

Decided forty-one years after the United States ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (the “Treaty”),¹ Botiller v. Dominguez was instrumental in legitimizing the dispossession of landowners whose title derived from the Kingdom of Spain or Republic of Mexico.² Property casebooks rarely include Botiller,³ which is unfortunate if unsurprising, for the casebooks commonly elide the acquisition – through conquest – and incorporation of the massive territory now known as the American Southwest.⁴ Indeed, legal education in the United States typically omits the Mexican–American War of 1846 to 1848 and, when included, such knowledge is usually relegated to specialty courses like Race and American Law, Critical Race Theory, or Latinos and the Law.