McNee v. Donahue

Citations

• 142 U.S. 587
• 12 S. Ct. 211
• 35 L. Ed. 1122
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 1991

Syllabus

<p>Ill ejectment plaintiff claimed title to certain parcels of land by purchase from the State of California under its selection of lands as part of the Agricultural College grant from Congress of. July 2, 1862, 12 Stat. 603, c. 130; certification thereof by the United States Land Department thereunder; and subsequent .patent from the State to him. Defendant claimed legal title by a prior purchase from the State under prior state selections, [1] by purchase and location of state land warrants issued by . the State under the grant of 500,000 acres made to it by section eight of act of September 4,1841, 5 Stat. 453, c. 16, and [2] by purchase of indemnity land, selected in lieu of school sections sixteen and thirty-six, granted by the act of Congress of March 3, 1853,10 Stat. 244, c. 145, and lost by inclusion within Mexican grants subsequently confirmed; further claiming that both selections were confirmed by the first section of the Act of Congress of July 23, 1866, 14 Stat. 218, c. 219, passed before the selection, certification and patenting under which plaintiff claims. Held,</p> <p>(1) That the first section of the act of July 23, 1866, must be construed in connection with section two of that act, and, as thus construed, it did not confirm the selections under the 500,000 acre grant, those selections not having been made of lands previously surveyed by authority of the United States: but said section, thus construed, did confirm the lands selected in lieu of the school sections taken by the Mexican grants, such selected lands having been previously survéyed by authority of the United States, and notice of such selection having been given to the register of the local land office, and the lands having been sold to a bona fide purchaser, in good faith, under the laws of the State;</p> <p>(2) That confirmation to the State of its title enured to the benefit of its grantee without any further action by the land department or by the State.</p> <p>A legislative confirm