Gormley v. Uthe

Citations

• 116 Ill. 643
• 7 N.E. 73

Syllabus

<p>1. Swamp lands— grant to the State of “unsold” swamp lands—grant construed. The act of Congress of September 28, 1850, granting to this State all unsold swamp lands within its borders, did not pass to the State the title to such land as the government before that time had agreed or assumed to grant to others. It did not pass to the State any tract upon which the land officers had allowed a military bounty warrant to be located before its passage.</p> <p>2. On the tenth day of July, 1850, the holder of a military bounty land warrant located the same on a tract of land in this State, which the evidence showed to be swamp land. On September 28, 1850, Congress passed an act granting to this State all unsold swamp and overflowed lands within its borders. On February 10,1851, the United'States issued a patent to the loeater for the land: Held, that the patent passed the title to the patentee.</p> <p>3. Statute—construction—what looked to for the meaning of words used. In giving a construction to the words used in a statute, many things are to be kept in view, such as, the object or purposes of the act, the connection in which they are used, and the consequences that will probably result from the proposed construction; and so in one enactment a word may be construed in an enlarged sense, and in another its meaning may be limited and contracted.</p> <p>4. Evidence—exemplified copies of entries in land office. An exemplified copy of an entry in the land office of the United States is admissible in evidence to show the location of a land warrant upon a tract of the public land by the holder of the same.</p>