16 Ala. 529 | Ala. | 1849
In the case of Shields v. Lyon, Minor’s Rep. 278, this court decided that the certificate of the board of commissioners, confirming a claim to land under a Spanish warrant of survey, is evidence of such an estate as entitles the widow to dower under our statutes; that it was such a title as gave the party to whom it was confirmed a perfect right to call on the government for a patent, and hence the widow was entitled to dower therein. This decission was made at an early day after the organization of .our State government, and from that time until the present, it has been considered as settled law, that if the husband held such evidence of title as entitled him to, demand and receive from the government of the United States a patent for the land, his widow was entitled to dower therein. See the cases collected in Edmondson v. Montague, 14 Ala. 370. Under the treaty of 24th March 1832 between the United States and the tribe of Creek Indians, an Indian reservee was authorised to sell the land reserved to him, and if the contract of sale was ratified, and approved of by the President, the purchaser became entitled to a patent.
It is, however, contended, that as the vendor resides in Georgia, that this is a sufficient reason to justify the court in re
This concludes our examination of all the questions presented by the briefs and argument of counsel, and the result of our opinion is, that the chancellor erred in decreeing a rescission of the contract. He should have declined to interfere. We must therefore reverse his decree, and render a decree dismissing the bill.