Wilson v. WallWilson v. Wall
- Reporters:
- , , ,
- Before:
- Grier
delivered the opinion of the court.
Whеn the United States acquired and took possession of the Floridas under the Louisiana treaty, the treaties which had been made with the Indian tribes remained in force over all the ceded territories, as the Laws which regulate the relations with all the Indiaus who were parties to them.- They were binding on the United States as the fundamental laws of Indian right, acknowledged by royal orders and municipal regulations. By these, the Indian right was not merely of possession, but that of alienation.
The parties to this contract may justly be presumed to have had in view the previous custom and usages with regard to grants to persons “desirous to become citizens.” The treaty suggests that they are “ a people in a state of rapid advancement in education and refinement.” But it does not follow that they were acquainted with the doctrine of trusts. With them lauds were either held in common by the whole nation or tribe, and the families were its fractions or portions. The head of the family could dispose of the property of the
Under the Spanish and French dominions,grants of land were always made to individuals in proportiоn to the number of persons composing the family. Thus, in Frique v. Hopkins, * the court said as follows:
“By the“regulations of the Spamsn government, if the individual who applied for land was unmarried, a certain quantity was given to him; if he had a wife this quantity was increased, and if ho had children an additional number of acres were conceded. Now, if the circumstance of his being married made the thing given become the property of both husband and wife, we must, on the same principle, hold that whore children were the moving cause, they too should be considerеd as owners in common of tho land conceded. That such was the effect of the donee having a family, was never even suspected. It certainly is unsupported by law. Many donations are made in which the donee’s having a wife and being burdened with a large family is a great consideration for the beneficence of the donor, but this motive in him does not prevent the person to whom the gift is made from being considered its owner, nor prevent the thing from descending to bis heirs.”
Wo can hardly expect thе Indians to be very profound on the subject of adverbs or prepositions, and the agents of the government do not seem to have exhibited much greater knowledge of the proprieties of grammar, or they would not have left this section of the treaty capable of misconstruction or doubt when it was so easy to avoid it. Thе words of this 14th section of the treaty were construed by Mr. Secretary Cass, to give to the parent the title to the whole. This construction had been the uniform one of thе department in executing the treaty, an.d patents were issued accordingly, of the correctness of which no doubt ivas entertained. The register of those that аpplied to the agent under the article, contained the names of the heads of families
As this section of the treaty was capable of a different construction, Congress, on the 23d of August, 1842, in order to save something for the children from the folly or incapacity of the parent, appointed commissioners with full power to examine and ascertain thе names of the parties who had fulfilled the conditions of settlement to entitle them to patents for their land, and ascertain the quantity for each child, “ according to the limitations contained in said article.”
Now, while it is freеly conceded that this construction given to the treaty should form a rule for the subsequent conduct of the department, it cannot affect titles before given by the government, nor does it pretend to do so. Congress has no constitutional power to settle the rights under treaties except in eases purely political. The сonstruction of them is the peculiar province of the judiciary, when a case shall arise between individuals. The legislature may prescribe to the executive how any mere administrative act shall be performed, and such was the only aim and purpose of this act.
In the Cherokee treaty, where a grant of 640 acres wаs given to persons “willing to become citizens,”a life estate only was .given to the settler, with
reversion to his children.
This treaty makes no such provision for children. The construction given by the representatives of both parties to the treaty, and the grants issued under it, were not revoked, nor could they be, by mere legislative act, founded on a different
We do not consider it necessary to vindicate the conclusion to which we have arrived in this case, by further argument on the grammatical construction of this section of the treaty. Assume that the construction put. on the treaty by the court below may possibly be correct. What then are the facts of thе case? The complainants below have applied to a court of chancery, which should be a court of conscience, to vacate thе title of a bona fide purchaser, who purchased and paid his money and expended a life’s labor on land granted by patent from the United States, conveying a fee-simрle estate, which was issued by the officers of the government without intention of imposing any trust on the grantee, or limiting it on the face of the deed.
It is contended that the рurchaser is affected with notice of the terms of the treaty referred to in his patent.
If there be any trust for children it must be a constructive trust, which is negatived by the express terms of the grant. How can a chancellor build up by the words
for
and
to
— words of equivocal import and doubtful construction— an equitable title in the children? The fact is clear-thаt’ such was not the construction under which the grantor gave the deed or the grantee accepted it. A chancellor will not
The application of these principles of equity to the present case is too apparent to need further remark.
Judgment reversed.