Fort Leavenworth Railroad v. Lowe

Citations

• 114 U.S. 525
• 5 S. Ct. 995
• 29 L. Ed. 264
• 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1790

Syllabus

<p>When the United States acquire lands within the limits of a State by purchase, with the consent of the Legislature of the State, for the erection of forts,- magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings, the Constitution confers upon them exclusive jurisdiction of the tract so acquired ; but when they acquire such lands in any other way than by purchase with the consent of the Legislature, their exclusive jurisdiction is confined to the erections, buildings and land used for the public purposes of the Federal Government.</p> <p>A State may, for such purposes cede to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over a tract of land within its limits in a manner not provided for in the Constitution of the United States ; and may prescribe conditions to the ■ cession, if they are not inconsistent with the effective use of the property for the purposes intended.-</p> <p>If a State thus ceding to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over a tract within its limits, reserves to itself the right to tax private property therein, and the United States do not dissent, their acceptance of the grant, with the reservation will be presumed.</p> <p>In the act admitting Kansas as a State, there was no reservation of Federal jurisdiction over the Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation. The State of Kansas subsequently ceded to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the same, “ saving further to said State the right to tax railroad, bridge, or other corporations, their franchises and property on said reservation.” Held, 'that the property and franchises of a railroad company within the reservation was liable to pay taxes in the State of Kansas, imposed according to its laws.</p>