Through a compelling story about the conflict over a notorious Mexican-period land grant in northern New Mexico, David Correia examines how law and property are constituted through violence and social struggle. Spain and Mexico populated what is today New Mexico through large common property land grants to sheepherders and agriculturalists. After the U.S.-Mexican War the area saw rampant land speculation and dubious property adjudication. Nearly all of the huge land grants scattered throughout New Mexico were rejected by U.S. courts or acquired by land speculators. Of all the land grant conflicts in New Mexico's history, the struggle for the Tierra Amarilla land grant, the focus of Correia's story, is one of the most sensational, with numerous nineteenth-century speculators ranking among the state's political and economic elite and a remarkable pattern of resistance to land loss by heirs in the twentieth century.

Includes maps of: El Rancho del Poso; Brusselbach Ranch; Mundy Ranch; Jicarilla Apache Land Acquisition within the Boundary of the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant.

Property and the legal geographies of violence in northern New Mexico -- Yellow earth -- Colonizing the lands of war -- "Under the malign influence of land-stealing experts" -- The night riders of Tierra Amarilla -- An unquiet title -- The New Mexico land grant war -- Terrorists and tourists in Tierra Amarilla -- Rare earth.