Brygger v. Schweitzer

Citations

• 5 Wash. 564
• 32 P. 462
• 1893 Wash. LEXIS 23

Syllabus

<p>PUBLIC LANDS — UNIVERSITY GRANT — SELECTION OF. ENTERED LANDS—EFFECT OF CANCELLATION OF ENTRY — WHEN OCCUPANT ENTITLED TO VALUE OF IMPROVEMENT.</p> <p>The sale by the Territory of Washington of lands granted for university purposes under the acts of congress of July 17, 1854, and March 14, 1864, the selection having been approved by the secretary of the interior, confers upon the purchaser and his grantees a title superior to that obtained by a subsequent patentee from the government of the same lands.</p> <p>Although the Territory of Washington may, under the act of congress of July 17, 1854, have selected certain lands upon which there was a homestead entry as a part of its university grant, yet such selection will become effectual as a grant where it has been maintained and acted upon by the territory and its grantees continuously until the cancellation of such homestead entry.</p> <p>One who files a homestead entry upon lands subsequent to their selection by the territory for university purposes, under congressional grant, does not become a bona fide occupant under color of title entitling him to the value of his improvements made upon the land, although such homestead entry may, through error of the commissioner of the land office, have been recognized as a valid one by the issuance of a patent.</p>