16 Cal. 295 | Cal. | 1860
Lead Opinion
Baldwin, J. and Cope, J. concurring.
The Act of Congress of September 4th, 1841, is entitled “An Act to Appropriate the Proceeds of the Sales of the Public Lands, and to Grant Preemption Rights; ” and in its first section specifies by name several States to which ten per cent, of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands—made after a certain date within their limits—is to be paid. Its eighth section is as follows: “ There shall be granted to each State specified in the first section of this act, 500,000 acres of land, for purposes of internal improvement; provided, that to each of the said States which has already received grants for said purposes, there is hereby granted no more than a quantity of land which shall, together with the amount such State has already received as aforesaid, make 500,000 acres; the selections in all of the said States to be made within their limits respectively, in such manner as the Legislatures thereof shall direct, and located in parcels, conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions, of not less than three hundred and twenty acres, in any one location on any public land, except such as is or may be reserved from sale by any law of Congress or proclamation of the President of the United States; which said locations may be made at any time after the lands of the United States, in said States .respectively, shall have been surveyed according to existing laws. And there shall be, and hereby is granted to each new State that shall be hereafter admitted into the Union, upon such admission, so much land as, including such quantity as may have been granted to such State before its admission and while under a Territorial Government, for purposes of internal improvement, as aforesaid, shall make 500,000 acres of land, to be selected and located as aforesaid.”
The words of the first clause of this section were held by the Supreme Court of the United States, in Foley v. Harrison (15 How. 447) inop
The legislation of the State has proceeded upon a construction of
A disposition, on the part of the State, to conform to the requirements of the Act of Congress is apparent in the provisions of this statute. The location is authorized only upon vacant and unappropriated lands, subject to such location; it is to be made in parcels, as required by the law of Congress; it is to conform to the lines of the Government survey, when that is made, and the patent of the State is not to issue until such conformity is had.
On the thirtieth of April, 1857, the Legislature passed an act in relation to the location of the warrants issued under the act of 1852, and the issuance of patents for the lands located thereunder. It is entitled “An Act Authorizing the Location and Patenting of School Lands,” and its first section provides that in all cases where the lands of
On the tenth of April, 1858, the Legislature passed an act creating a “ State Land Office for the State of California,” and designating its chief officer as “ the Register of the State Land Office,” and constituting the Surveyor General, ex-officio, such Register, until otherwise provided. (Session Laws of 1858, Ch. 176.) This act prescribes, with much particularity, the duties of the Register; and among them is that of keeping a record of all lands selected by the agents of the State as a portion of the 500,000 acres, showing the number of acres, the description of the ld&d, by range, township and section, the name of the original purchaser, and of the selecting and locating agent, the price per acre, and the number of the school land warrant under which the same is located.
On the twenty-third of April, 1858, the Legislature passed an act providing for the location and sale of the unsold portion of the 500,000 acres, and the seventy-two sections donated for the use of a seminary of learning. (Session Laws of 1858, Ch. 279.) By this act, the Governor is authorized to appoint and commission, in each of the United States Land Districts of the State, a locating agent, whose duty it is made to locate the unsold school lands, and the seminary lands referred to, in the manner provided by the act. The agents are required to proceed and obtain the consent of such settlers as may choose to avail themselves of the benefits of the act, and the request of others, who are not settlers, who may wish to purchase lands under its provisions— such consent or request to be accompanied with the affidavit of the parties, and of two disinterested persons, that there is no valid claim existing upon the land 'desired adverse to their own; and when such consent or request is obtained under such forms as the Governor may prescribe to apply to the Register and Receiver of their respective land offices, to permit the location to be made in the name of the State,
On the sixteenth of April, 1859, the Legislature passed an act for the issuance of patents to lands located under school warrants, and for lands purchased under the Act of April 23d, 1858. (Session Laws of 1859, Ch. 338.) This act provides that in all cases where school land warrants have been issued under the Act of May, 1852, and the same have been, or may be, located upon any of the public lands of this State, subject to such location, and in accordance with its provisions, or with the provisions of the Act of April 30th, 1857, or where parties have purchased under the Act of April 23d, 1858, and obtained a certificate of purchase from the Register of the State Land Office, the holder of such warrant or certificate of purchase shall be entitled to receive a patent from the State for the lands thus located or purchased. The second, third and fourth sections of the act are as follows:
“ Section 2. The holder of a warrant or certificate of purchase desiring a patent, shall be required to produce to the Register of the State Land Office proper evidence to show: First, that such warrant has been located in conformity with the provisions of the act under which the same purports to have been located. Second, that the lands have been duly surveyed by authority of the United States Government, and the plats of such survey have been approved by the Surveyor General, and that the location conforms to such survey. Third, that the location of such warrant has been made or filed in the United States Land Office for the district in which the land is
Sec. 3. Upon the production of the evidence required in section two of this act, the Register of the State Land Office shall issue to the applicant his certificate of the proper location of such warrant upon the tract or tracts of land described in such location, or, if the holder of a certificate of purchase, that all the principal and interest due thereon has been paid, and that the applicant is entitled to receive a patent for the lands described in the location of said warrant, or in said certificate of purchase; but no such certificate shall issue, until the warrant or certificate of purchase upon which the same is to be issued shall be surrendered to said Register.
“ Sec. 4. Upon the production of the certificate of the Register of the State Land Office, as provided in section three of this act, the Governor of the State shall issue a patent to the purchaser entitled thereto, for the lands described in said certificate, which shall be signed by him and countersigned by the Register of the State Land Office, and he shall affix the seal of his office thereto; such patent shall vest in the grantee therein named a good and valid title, in fee simple, to the lands therein described.”
The patent issued to the plaintiff refers to the Act of Congress of September 4th, 1841, and the Acts of the State of May 3d, 1852; of April 30th, 1857; of April 23d, 1858; and of April 16th, 1859, and recites that it appears by the certificate of the Register of the State Land Office, issued in accordance with the provisions of the last act,
In the present case, the defense rests upon the alleged reservation of the tract embraced in the patent to the plaintiff, from location by the State, as part of the land granted to her, on the ground of its previous selection as a town site. On the trial, the defendant offered to prove
The general argument of the counsel of the plaintiff, in support of the judgment of the Court below, has been directed to establish two propositions:—1st. That the tract embraced in the patent to the plaintiff, though constituting a town site, was not thereby reserved from selection by the State as part of the grant to her, nor from location by the plaintiff by her authority; and 2d. That the relation of the defendants to the title is not such as to allow them to question the validity and efficacy of the patent.
We are of opinion that both of these propositions can be maintained, and clearly so with reference to the last. The tenth section of the Act of September 4th, 1841, authorizes the entry, by individuals, in certain cases, of portions of the public lands, upon paying the minimum price of the same to the United States; in other words, confers preemptive rights or privileges, upon compliance with certain conditions. This right or privilege is subject, however, to express exceptions, and among others, the section declares, that “ no portions of the public lands which have been selected as the site for a city or town,” and “ no parcel or lot
The Act of May 23d, 1844, “ for the Relief of the Citizens of Towns upon the Lands of the United States, under certain circumstances,” extends the preemptive right or privilege to town lands—the same to be asserted by the authorities of incorporated towns, or by Judges of the County Courts of the counties embracing the lands, where the towns are not incorporated. It enacts as follows: “ That whenever any portion of the surveyed public lands has been, or shall be, settled upon and occupied as a town site, and, therefore, not subject to entry under the existing preemption laws, it shall be lawful, in case such town or place shall be incorporated, for the corporate authorities thereof, and if not incorporated, for the Judges of the County Court for- the county in which such town may be situated, to enter, at the proper land office, and at the minimum price, the land so settled and occupied, in trust, for the several use and benefit of the occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; the execution of which trust, as to the disposal of the lots in such town, and the proceeds of the sales thereof, to be conducted under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Legislative authority of the State or Territory in which the same is situated; provided, that the entry of the land intended by this act be made prior to the commencement of the public sale of the body of land in which it is included, and that the entry shall include only such land as is actually occupied by the town, and be made in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, authorized by the act of the twenty-fourth of April, 1820, and shall not, in the whole, exceed three hundred and twenty acres; and provided, also, that any act of said trustees not made in conformity to the rules and regulations herein alluded to, shall be void and of no effect.” In this act, also, there is no reservation of the town lands from sale. On the contrary, the act proceeds on the ground that they are to be sold, and confers the priv- ' ilege of taking them, for the benefit of then- occupants, at the lowest Government price. It confers the privilege of preemption, to be asserted at any time preceding the commencement of the public sale of
The Act of March 3d, 1853, providing “ for the Survey of the Public Lands in California, the Granting of Preemption Rights therein, and for other purposes,” places the public lands in this State, with certain specified exceptions, “subject to the preemption laws of September 4th, 1841, with all the exceptions, conditions, and limitations therein,” and provides for the sale of the same. Its eighth section declares, that the public lands, not being mineral lands, occupied as towns or villages, shall not he subject to sale under the provisions of the act, but that the whole of such lands, whether settled upon before or after the survey of the same, shall be subject to the provisions of the Act of May 23d, 1844, except such towns as are located on or near mineral lands, the inhabitants of which shall have the right of occupation and cultivation only until such time as Congress shall dispose of the same. There is, in this act, a reservation of the town lands from sale under its provisions, but at the same time, these lands are subjected to the provisions of the Act of May 23d, 1844, which, as we have seen, authorizes a sale at the lowest government price—that is, confers a right upon the corporate authorities, or County Judges, to take them for the benefit of the inhabitants of the towns, on those terms, up to the commencement of the public sale of the body of the land in which the towns are included; after which, such lands are offered, with the general mass, to the public. It was not the intention of Congress to preserve the lands forever from sale, if no entry by the corporate authorities, or County Judges, were made. There was not, then, we think, any such reservation, “ by any law of Congress,” as to preclude a selection of the tract patented to the plaintiff by the State, as part of the grant to her. Nor has there been any proclamation by the President, making such reservation, and thereby precluding such selection. Nor is there anything in the policy of the General Government, as to the disposition of the public lands occupied as towns and villages, which would necessarily be defeated by allowing their selection. That policy is to afford protection to the inhabitants of these towns in the occupation and improvement of the lots and parcels upon which they have settled. It is not to withdraw the lands from sale, but to confer the privilege of purchase, at the lowest Government price, for the benefit of the inhabitants, before the public sale commences. It cannot be presumed that
But if we are mistaken in the views we have expressed of the legislation of Congress, we are clear that the defendants are not in a position to question, in this action of ejectment, the validity and efficacy of the patent to the plaintiff. The patent, as against them, is conclusive of the regularity and validity of the action of all the officers of the State in the selection of the lands donated by the General Government. It is the record of the State that the land was subject to location under the grant of the United States, and has been located through her officers in pursuance of the terms of the donation, and as against parties who have no higher right than that which arises from mere occupation, it imports absolute verity. We admit that there are limitations upon the conclusiveness of this record, and that under some circumstances its operation in vesting an estate may be questioned collaterally. We admit, in general terms, the correctness of the doctrine declared in Patterson v. Winn (11 Wheat. 380) to be the settled doctrine of the Supreme Court of the United States, that if a patent be absolutely void upon its face, or were issued without authority, or were prohibited by statute, or the State had no title, it may be impeached collaterally in an action of ejectment. We admit, we say, this doctrine in general terms, for there are many qualifications to be considered in its application. If the patent be void upon its face, it may be assailed at any time and in
The defendants in the present case stand in no privity with the United States, and possess no claim, legal or equitable, to the lands upon which they are settled. The proffered offer of the general government to invest them with a title, though the action of certain officers, has never been accepted, though years have passed with the offer pending before them. The offer is therefore withdrawn, and their position is like that of any others who occupy without right. They are strangers henceforth to the title, and must continue such strangers until further action by the Government on their behalf. That Government, after years of delay, has, through its Receiver and Register of the appropri- - ate Land Office, taken a receipt for the land as a part of the grant to the State, and the State has received from the plaintiff the consideration for the same, and issued her patent. The object of the patent is to give security and quiet to its holder, as to the title of the property which it purports to transfer to him; but such patent would be anything but an instrument of security and repose, if every one not in privity with the original owner of the title, but simply hoping that by some future action of the Government he may possibly possess some interest in the property, could compel the, patentee in every instance in which he may seek the aid of the legal tribunals, to establish the validity and regularity of the action of the officers of the State in the selection, or approval of the selection of the land, and in the issuance of the patent. Such is not the law, and in no case which we have been able to find in the wide range of American jurisprudence, has it ever been held to be the law. On almost every subject of judicial .investigation, we find some differences of opinion; often, it is true, of a very slight character, in the adjudications of the different tribunals of the several States; but upon this proposition, that a person without title from a common or paramount source cannot attack and overturn, in an action of ejectment, a patent which is regular upon its face, there is no difference of opinion, except, perhaps, that which may be inferred from a case in our own Court, which we will hereafter consider.
In Bledsoe’s Devisees v. Well (4 Bibb, 329) a patent from the Commonwealth was produced by the plaintiff, bearing date on the eighteenth of May, 1802, and purporting to have been issued in consideration of two treasury warrants. The defendant, to invalidate the patent, offered to prove that the land lay south of the line which formed the boundary
“ If, therefore, the patent be illegal upon its face, it is itself record evidence of the matter which renders it a nullity; but if it be legal and perfect upon its face, it is a record of the title having passed to the grantee, and it cannot regularly be defeated but by matter of as high a nature.
“ This doctrine was explicitly recognized by the opinions of the Judges of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, in the case of Alexander v. Greenup, (1 Munford, 134) and seems to be fully supported by the English authorities.”
In this case, if the defendant had himself, previously, received from the Commonwealth, a patent to the reserved tract under an order of the Legislature, he would have been in a position to attack the patent to the plaintiff, either in an action of ejectment brought by or against him, or, if in possession, by a bill in equity to quiet his title; but as it would appear he was without title himself, he was in no position to assail the record of the Government.
The case in Alabama, referred to in the citation, was reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States, (18 How. 87) but upon grounds which in no respect affect its force as an authority on the point under consideration.
In Cooper v. Roberts (18 How. 176) the plaintiff claimed under a-patent from the State of Michigan, issued upon a sale of section sixteen of a township granted by the United States to the State for the use of schools. The defendant contended, that the title to the land had never vested in the State of Michigan, but in the Minnesota Mining Company, under which company, it would seem, that he held; and further, that if
“ Michigan has not complained of the sale, and retains, so far as the case shows, the price paid for it. Under these circumstances, we must regard the patent as conclusive of the fact of a valid and regular sale on this issue.”
In this case, the Minnesota Mining Company had originally taken possession of the premises, under a lease from the Secretary of War, and erected valuable improvements, for the purpose of mining; and, after the expiration of the lease, had entered the land in the appropriate Land Office, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior—the entry being allowed, with a reservation of the rights of Michigan, as the section was claimed by her—and had received a patent with a similar reservation. The defendant, representing the company, was thereby brought in such relation to the common source of title, as to be able to question the right of the plaintiff, so far as it depended upon the action of Congress, or the officers of the United States. But when once that title had passed to the State, it was no concern of his whether her officers had complied with her laws in executing a patent to the plaintiff. With reference to the title, after it had passed to the State, he was a stranger, and an intruder upon the premises; and thus, not being in privity with Michigan, was in no position to call in question the validity of the acts of her officers.
The case of Summers v. Dickinson, of this Court, (9 Cal. 554) is not, when considered with reference to the facts presented by the record, in conflict with the views we have expressed. Upon examination of the record, we find that on the trial, upon the offer of the patent, the defendant’s counsel objected to its introduction in evidence, “ unless plaintiff proved that a patent had issued to tire State of California from the United States Government, under the Act of 1850.” The Court below sustained the objection, and nonsuited the plaintiff. No other objection was made, and thus the construction of the Act of Congress of September 28th, 1850—“ To Enable Arkansas, and other States to Reclaim the Swamp Lands within their Limits ”—was the sole question presented on appeal, by the record, for consideration. The admissibility of the patent on any other grounds, or its effect when admitted, was a matter not before the Court. But aside from this, there is nothing in the language of the opinion which justifies the inference sought to be drawn from it. Undoubtedly, a patent issued by the Governor for any
Judgment affirmed.
Rehearing
Baldwin, J. and Cope, J. concurring.
We do not find any considerations advanced in the petition for rehearing, which were not passed upon in the opinion already delivered. The Act of September 4th, 1841, does, as we stated, require'tlie locations of the State to be made “ conformably to sectional divisions and subdivisions,” but it does not require the State to postpone the selections until the survey of the United States. It is only with reference to the old States, designated in the first section of the act, that the clause determining the time of the selections applies. As to the new States, the interest in the 500,000 acres vests upon their admission into the Union, and the selections by them are only subject to three qualifications: First, they must not be of lands reserved from sale by any law of Congress, or the proclamation of the President. Second, they must be in parcels of not less than three hundred and twenty acres each. And third, the parcels selected must be in such form as to correspond with the survey of the United State’, when made. The selections will not,
Rehearing denied.
Note.—It appears from the records in the office of the Surveyor General of California, that, under the Act of May 23rd, 1852, authorizing the location of school warrants, 159,520 acres were located of unsurveyed lands.