40 Minn. 396 | Minn. | 1889
The tract of land involved herein was entered at the proper land-office on the 18th of March, 1878, by one James Lang, under the provisions of the homestead law of 1862, (Rev. St. U. S. § 2290, et seg.) Upon the 13th day of December, 1881, Lang executed and delivered to the defendant herein, for a valuable consideration, a mortgage upon said premises, containing the usual covenants. October 14,1883, he made final proof, receiving a certificate thereof, and upon June 15, 1884, a patent for said tract of land was issued to Lang by the general government. Later, but prior to the commencement of this action, the object of which is to cancel and set aside said mortgage, Lang conveyed the premises by warranty deed to the plaintiff. To state the case, and to call attention to three decisions of this court, Townsend v. Fenton, 30 Minn. 528, (16 N. W. Rep. 421,) Red River, etc., R. Co. v. Sture, 32 Minn. 95, (20 N. W. Rep. 229,) and Lewis v. Wetherell, 36 Minn. 386, (31 N. W. Rep. 356,) seems about all that is necessary. In the first of these cases it was held that an agreement made after the entry, but before final proof, to convey lands held under the homestead act when the patent should be issued, is valid. In the second it was decided that the entry by the homesteader is a contract of purchase; that thereupon he has an inchoate title to the land, which is property, a vested right, which can only be defeated by his failure to perform the condi
Order affirmed.