65 Mo. 94 | Mo. | 1877
This was was an action of ejectment for certain lands in Carroll county. The plaintiff claimed title by virtue of a location and settlement made thereon in August, 1856, under the pre-emption laws of the United States, followed by an entry at the United States Land Office in June, 1857, and a patent from the United States based thereon, dated August 5, 1873. The defendant claimed title under a purchase from the .county of Carroll in July, 1868, and a deed from the State made in pursuance thereof, dated February 12, 1869. It appears from the record that the lands in question were selected as swamp lands under the act of Congress of September 28, 1850, and that in December, 1853, said selection was approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and in January, 1854, a list of said lands was certified b3r the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the Governor of Missouri, who, in pursuance of the provisions of the act of Congress aforesaid, requested that a patent might issue for the same, and on the 9th day of March, 1858, a
I. The first section of the act of September 28, 1850, granted the whole of the swamp and overflowed lands remaining- unsold at the passage of the act to the states in which the same are situate. By J the second section it was provided that lists and plats of such lands should be made by the Secretary of the Interior and transmitted to the Governor, and, upon his request, patents should issue to ' the State therefor. On the 2d of March, 1855, Congress passed an act for the relief of purchasers and locators of swamp and overflowed lands, which directed the President of the United States to cause patents to be issued to all purchasers or locators who may have made entries of the public lands claimed as swamp lands prior to the issue of patent to the State as provided in the second section of the act of September 28, 1850. This act further provided for payment to the State of the purchase money received by the United States therefor, upon due proof before the Commissioner of the General Land Office, that any of the lands purchased were swamp lands within the true intent and meaning of the act of 1850. On the 3d of March, 1857, Congress passed another act, continuing in force the foregoing act and extending its provisions to all entries and locations of lands claimed as swamp lands made since its passage, and as selections of swamp and overflowed lands had in many instances been made by the states before the required lists and plats were made by the Secretary of the Interior, the act also declared that all such selections theretofore made and reported to the Commissioner of the
Reversed.