Ely v. Frisbie

Citations

• 17 Cal. 250

Syllabus

<p>Defendants claiming title under a Mexican grant and a patent issued upon its confirmation by the United States, bring ejectment against plaintiffs for certain premises in their occupation; plaintiffs, claiming as United States pre-emptioners, then file their bill in the same Court, to enjoin defendants from introducing in evidence or using the survey, plat or patent, on the trial of the ejectment, until the determination of an action averred to be pending in the United States Circuit Court, by the United States against defendants and others claiming with them, to annul the survey, plat and patent, on the ground of fraud in the survey, and in procuring the patent—the bill also averring such fraud: Held, that injunction does not lie; that the patent, until set aside, is conclusive evidence of the validity of the grant, of its recognition and confirmation, and also of the regularity of the survey, and of its conformity with the decree of confirmation; and that defendants claiming to be pre-emptioners upon land of the United States, have no standing in Court to resist the patent. •</p> <p>The patent took effect as the deed of the United States at the date of the presentation of the claim under the grant to the Board of Land Commissioners, in August, 1852. It is the record of the Government, that on that day the land it embraces was within the boundaries designated by the grant, and subject to appropriation to satisfy the claim of the heirs of the grantee, and until vacated it imports as against the Government, and all parties claiming under the Government by title subsequent, absolute verity. It can only be impeached by the Government by direct proceedings for its annulment or limitation, and such proceedings, unless accompanied by injunction from the Court in which they are taken, cannot, before decree, impair the rights of the patentees, or those claiming under them; and the institution of the suit of the United States constituted, of itself, no ground for granting