Pious Fund of the Californias

The Pious Fund of the Californias
Court	Permanent Court of Arbitration
Full case name	The Pious Fund of the Californias (United States v. Mexico)
Decided	October 14, 1902
Court membership
Judges sitting	Henning Matzen, president, elected by panel Sir Edward Fry, named by USA Friedrich Martens, named by USA Tobias Asser, named by Mexico Alexander de Savornin Lohman, named by Mexico
Case opinions
Decision by	Unanimous panel

The Pious Fund of the Californias, Spanish: ''Fondo Piadoso de las Californias'' is a fund, originating in 1697, to sponsor the Roman Catholic Jesuit Spanish missions in Baja California, and Franciscan Spanish missions in Alta California in the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1769 to 1823, and originally administered by the Jesuits. It became the object of litigation between the US and Mexican governments in the 19th century, with the resolution making legal history in The Hague in 1902.

It originated with voluntary donations made by individuals and religious bodies in Mexico to members of the Society of Jesus, to enable them to propagate the Catholic Faith in the upper Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day U.S. state of California. The early contributions to the fund were placed in the hands of the missionaries, the most active of whom were Juan María de Salvatierra (founder of many missions in Baja California) and Eusebio Francisco Kino (founder of many missions in the Sonoran Desert and Baja California). The later and larger donations took the form of agreements by the donors to hold the property donated for the use of the missions, and to devote their income to that purpose. In 1717 the capital sums of practically all the donations were turned over to the Jesuits, and from that year until the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Mexico the Pious Fund was administered by them.

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