57 N.W. 241 | N.D. | 1893
Lead Opinion
This case was before this court at the October term, 1891, upon an interlocutory order, and is reported in 2 N. D. 206, 50 N. W. 151. A full summary of the pleadings is given in that case, and need not be repeated here. It will answer our purpose to state that the plaintiffs and respondents claim to be the equitable owners of a certain quarter section of land in Traill County by virtue of a purchase from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, made and recorded in 1876. The land is in what is known as the “Indemnity Belt” of lands granted by congress to said railroad company, and no patent therefor has ever been issued by the United States. It is alleged that the defendant and appellant is in possession of said land, and is cropping the same, and sapping the land of its goodness and strength, and that appellant is entirely -insolvent. A decree is asked, declaring respondents to be the equitable owners of said land, and that appellant has no right, title, or interest therein, and perpetually enjoining appellant from tilling said land, or in any manner interfering therewith. The answer denies all the allegations of ownership contained in the complaint, and sets forth that the appellant is in possession of the land under the pre-emption laws of the United States; that said land was at the time of appellant’s settlement thereon, and still is, public land of the United Sfates subject to pre-emption, and was so declared by order of the secretary of the interior, dated August 15th, 1887; and it further avers that a contest was and is pending before the commissioner of the general land office, between this appellant and respondents’ grantor, to determine the rights of the respective parties in this particular tract of land.
The conclusion we have reached in this case renders it unprofitable and improper for us to discuss more than a single error assigned. While the pendency of a contest before the interior department between the appellant herein and respondents’
Nor do we find in the wording of the statute any support for respondents’ position. It reads: “That there be, and hereby is, granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. * * * every alternate section of land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of twenty alternate sections per mile on each side of said- railroad line.” It is the “twenty alternate sections per mile” that constitutes the present grant. From those sections certain possible exceptions and reservations are made, and then follows a privilege to the company, in case of losses by reason of such exceptions and reservations, to select lands in other alternate odd numbered sections, “not more than ten miles beyond the limits of said alternate sections.” But this privilege did not constitute a present grant. It vested in the railroad company a right through and by which, in the contingency specified, it might acquire title to the additional or indemnity lands. But it required something more than the existence of the grant, and the location and construction of the railroad in accordance with the terms of the- grant, to vest the title to such additional lands in the company. It required a legal selection; and until such selection was made, and -the legality of the selection in some manner established, the company could claim no right or interest whatever in any specific tract within the indemnity belt. Ryan v. Railroad Co., 99 U. S. 382; Grinnell v. Railroad Co., 103 U. S. 739; Railroad Co. v. Herring, 111 U. S. 27, 3 Sup. Ct. 485; Kansas Pac. R. Co. v. Atchison, etc., R. Co., 112 U. S. 414, 5 Sup. Ct. 208; St. Paul, etc., R. Co. v. Winona, etc., R. Co., 112 U. S. 720, 5 Sup. Ct. 334; Wisconsin Cent. R. Co. v. Price Co., 133 U. S. 496, 10 Sup. Ct. 341; U. S. v. Missouri, K. & T. R. Co., 141 U. S. 385, 12 Sup. Ct. 13; Elling v. Thexton, (Mont.) 16 Pac. 931; Jackson v. LaMoure Co., 1 N. D. 238, 46 N. W. 449. The decision in Railroad Co. v. Barnes, 2 N. D. 310, 51 N. W. 386, upon the question here discussed, was reached upon the assumption
Respondents’ grantor received no title to this land by virtue of its grant. Did it receive title by virtue of its selection? The statute requires the selections to be made “under the direction of the secretary of the interior.” In Jackson v. LaMoure Co., supra, this court said: “It is also necessary for that department [interior department] to determine whether the lands which the company desires to select for indemnity are open to selection,— whether there is not some prior claim upon them in behalf of settlers or others. It is therefore entirely proper that the secretary of the interior should have the right to approve or disapprove of the selection before it becomes final. This is clearly the meaning in the provision of the grant to the Northern Pacific, which declai-es that the indemnity lands shall be selected by the company ‘under the direction of the secretary of the interior,’ [citing Elling v. Thexton, supra, and St. Paul, etc.,R. Co. v. Winona, etc., R. Co., supra.] The statute must have the same construction that would be given it if the word ‘approval’ had been used in place of the word ‘direction.’ ” The Supreme Court of Minnesota, in a very recent case, (Resser v. Carney, 54 N. W. 89,) construing this same grant, said: “The selection of indemnity lands, which was to be made ‘under the direction of the secretary o'f the interior,’ did not become effectual, nor did the title pass from the United States, at least until the selection was approved or in
Reversed.
Rehearing
ON REHEARING.
A rehearing was ordered in this case on the petition of respondents, and the case has been again fully argued. It is first urged upon us that the evidence offered by the defendant in the court below to show that a contest between defendant and plaintiffs’ grantor, concerning this same land, was pending in the interior department,
It is urged, however, that it was not shown that the motion was made within the time prescribed by the rules of the department. A sufficient answer is that, when the evidence was excluded, the defendant had not rested, nor had the witness been excused. A party cannot put in all his evidence at once. The defect might have been cured in the further testimony. It was no ground for exclusion at that time. But it is proper to add that this court inadvertently went too far on this point in the original opinion We held this evidence improperly excluded, and then assumed that, if admitted, it would have been conclusive upon the question of the pendency of the contest, and hence ordered the complaint
It is contended, however, that the secretary of the interior was without jurisdiction to entertain a motion for review; that, when the United States parts with its title, the jurisdiction of the interior department ceases; and, granting that the approval of the secretary of the interior is necessary to pass title to lands selected by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in the indemnity belt, yet, as stated in the original opinion, such approval may be shown by a decision in any given case, and as, in the opinion of the secretary filed in this case, the selection of the land in controversy was expressly approved, therefore the title at once passed from the general government, and stripped the interior department of jurisdiction. The position has nothing to recommend it except its novelty. It must be true in every jurisdiction that no judgment or decision can be final until the expiration of the time fixed by law or the rules of such jurisdiction in which to apply for a rehearing or review. Otherwise, a review would always be a farce. True, if no such application be made within the time limited, the decision at once becomes final from the date of its rendition; but, if such application be. made, it suspends the operation of the decision, and if, on the review, a different conclusion be reached, the former decision becomes of no force or effect whatever. But counsel’s brief is devoted principally to an attempt to establish the proposition that the title of the United States to the lands within the indemnity belt of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company passed by the grant of upon the filing of the map of definite location of its line, and hence the jurisdiction of the interior department had ceased, and all further controversies concerning the title to or right in this land must be waged in court. It was to this point that the original opinion was directed, and we will briefly add to what was then said, in order to more directly meet the objections urged by counsel. We stated that the grant was in firasenti, as to place lands. It is insisted that it is in fircesenti, to the amount of 20
But the reasons which impel us to hold that, under the grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, nothing passed upon filing the map of definite location except the place lands, are much stronger than under the grant to the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company. The general granting language is the same, but in the case of the Northern Pacific that language is followed by an indemnity clause, that necessarily confines it and limits it in its operation. The language is “that there be, and hereby is, granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, * * * every alternate section of .public land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of 20 alternate-sections per mile on each 'side of said .railroad line, as said
Since the original opinion herein was filed, the case of Railroad, Co. v. Araiza, 57 Fed. 98, which arose in the southern district of California, has been published, and it is relied upon as authority for respondents’ position. It will not bear that construction. It is a substantial repetition of Railroad Co. v. Wiggs, 43 Fed. 333. In each case the land had been patented to a settler, and the action was brought in equity to declare the patentee a trustee for, the railroad company. Both actions arose in California, where the lateral limit to the indemnity land was only 30 miles. In each
There is but one more point upon which we care to add anything to the original opinion. It is urged that, granting that respondents stand simply upon an unapproved selection, yet they have a right to maintain this action to restrain the injurious acts of a mere trespasser. The proposition begs the question. We are required to assume that appellant is a trespasser, while, if his contention be sustained, he is a pre-empter lawfully in possession of a portion of the public domain; and that is the essence of the contest which appellant sought to show was pending before the secretary of the interior. Applications to file pre-emption declaratory statements upon unapproved selections were expressly recognized by the order of August 15th, 1887, revoking the former order of withdrawal of these lands. But of what avail could such application be if the applicant is not permitted to maintain his settlement? The fact that this land is segregated by selection does not preclude an application to make a filing thereon. It only subjects such application to the final ruling on the selection. It is urged that in Wisconsin Cent. R. Co. v. Price Co., 133 U. S. 496, 10 Sup. Ct. 341, plaintiff, standing only upon unapproved selection, was permitted to maintain an action to remove a cloud from the title. The point is not very clear, as the case is reported. The decision does not mention it. In that case the land came through the state, and it is recited in the opinion that the selections made by the state agent had never been approved by the secretary of the interior. The action was brought in April, 1884. The fourth finding of fact by the trial court — and which does not appear to have been questioned — reads: “That on the 25th day of February, 1884, the plaintiff received a patent from the state for all of said lands, and thereby acquired the absolute title in fee to