Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad v. Butler

Citations

• 159 U.S. 87
• 15 S. Ct. 991
• 40 L. Ed. 85
• 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2290

Syllabus

<p>The decision by a state court that- the pleadings were sufficient to permit the examination and determination of the case presents no Federal question.</p> <p>While the rule is that this court, upon a writ of error to the highest court of a State, in an action at law, cannot review its judgment upon a question of fact, it is unnecessary to consider the extent of the power'of the court in that particular in chancery cases, as this court concurs with the result reached by the state court that when the survey was made of the land in controversy, there was no reservation made of the island, and no act on the part of the government showing any intention to reserve it.</p> <p>In Michigan a grant of land bounded by a stream, whether navigable in fact or not, carries with it the bed of the stream to the centre of the thread thereof.</p> <p>The court has no doubt, upon the 'evidence; that the circumstances were such at the time of the survey as naturally induced the surveyor to decline to survey the tract in controversy as an island ; that there is nothing to indicate mistake or fraud, and the government has taken no steps predicated on that theory; and that the judgment of the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan was right.</p>