11 P. 351 | Ariz. | 1886
This controversy as to a right of possession and ownership of a certain mining property in Tombstone mining district, Cochise county. The contention was commenced and continued for years in the land department of the United States, and has finally been transferred to the courts of this territory. It is not deemed necessary or important to refer with particularity in this case to the history of such controversy, so carried on, but simply to state certain well-established facts, which will explain our decision, and show upon what ground it rests.
In November, 1875, the plaintiff undertook to locate, and claims to have done so, the mining property in question, giving thereto the name of the “Bronkow Mine.” He had the mine surveyed, and in other things claims to have complied
Thé rights of the defendants arise as follows: While Daly was acting as register the defendants, acting upon the theory that plaintiffs had abandoned the property in question, filed in the land-office at Tucson an application for a patent for the same mining claim in question, but by the name of the “Dean Richmond Claim.” Daly, acting as said register, and before the receipt by him of the notification that he had no right to act, ordered the publication of the notice of defendants for a patent to said Dean Richmond claim. To this application the plaintiff filed no adverse claim, presumably acting on the belief that Daly was a mere usurper, and without any authority to do anything of the kind whatever as register.
On May 18, 1881, as stated, the successor of the suspended register was appointed, and entered upon- his duties, and on that day ordered a publication of the application of the plaintiffs for a patent to the Bronkow mine. August 12, 1881, the defendants filed in the local land-office a motion to set
The complaint in the case asks a rehearing of the whole controversy, upon the ground that the land department of the government erred in its decision, and especially in holding that the application tendered by the defendants was proper, and in allowing them to complete their entry. It is also said to have been error on the part of the land depart
It will be seen, at a glance, that we are asked to review the action of the land department of the United States, and, indeed, to reverse and set aside the action of such department. It has been so often and repeatedly held that the courts have no right or power to so interfere in cases of this kind, after the action of the land department, that little else need be done in disposing of this ease than to refer to the decisions made by the highest judicial tribunal in the country upon the subject. The questions that we are asked now to look into and decide were examined and passed upon by the land department, and, after such examination, it was decided that the patent to the property should issue to the defendants. The power of the land department to make such a decision is unquestionable. The United States, in thus making a title to the land in question, had a right to determine upon the sufficiency of whatever went to entitle the claimants to the patent actually granted, and the lands named by that conveyance; and, the patent having been granted to the defendants, it cannot be said that such patent was issued improperly, unless it can also be shown that fraud or imposition was practiced upon the plaintiffs, or upon the land department, or that such officers have clearly mistaken the law applicable to the ease.
In Baldwin v. Starks, 107 U. S. 463, 2 Sup. Ct. Rep. 473, the law is clearly stated: “It has been so repeatedly decided in this court, in cases of this character, that the land department is a tribunal, appointed by congress to decide
The question is very fully discussed in Quinby v. Conlan, where it was held that rulings upon matters of fact or upon mixed questions of law and fact, which were properly cognizable by the land department, and passed upon by it, are put beyond the interference of the courts; and in this regard it is said: “The proofs offered in compliance with the law are to be presented in the first instance to the officers of the district where the land is situated, and from their decision and appeal lies to the commissioner of the general land-office, and from him to the secretary of the interior. For mere errors of judgment as to the weight of evidence on these subjects by any of the subordinate officers the only remedy is by appeal to his superior of the department. The courts cannot exercise any direct appellate jurisdiction over the decisions of those officers, nor can they reverse or correct them in a collateral proceeding between private parties. « * ® It is only when those officers have misconstrued the law applicable to the ease as established before the department, and thus have denied to parties rights which, upon a correct construction, would have been conceded to them, or where misrepresentations and fraud have been practiced, necessarily affecting their judgment, that the courts can, in a proper proceeding, interfere, and refuse to give effect to their action. On this subject we have repeatedly, and with emphasis, expressed our opinion, and the matter should be deemed settled.”
But it is alleged, in avoidance of the law here stated, that there was a mistake of law by the officers of the land department in holding that Daly was an officer de facto. This question was fully before the department, and received ample consideration, and, if not purely a question of law or of fact, it was clearly a mixed question of law and fact, which, under the decisions cited, must be regarded as at rest by the decision pronounced. We have no doubt, however, that the decision was right in point of law. It is undisputed that, by virtue of some sort of designation by the land department, Daly undertook to exercise, and did exercise and 'discharge, the duties and powers of register. He seems to have been an actual incumbent of the office, and his absolute legal right cannot be tried in this collateral manner, and between third parties. There was ample proof of user on his part, and that he was acting as register, and apparently, for the time being, in full enjoyment of the office. That was enough to make valid his action in this case. Whatever may be said of the acts of a mere intruder, without any claim or color of title,
The result is that the decree of the court below will be affirmed.