Moran v. Horsky

Citations

• 178 U.S. 205
• 20 S. Ct. 856
• 44 L. Ed. 1038
• 1900 U.S. LEXIS 1668

Syllabus

<p>A neglected riglit, if neglected too long, must be treated as an abandoned right, -which no court will enforce.</p> <p>Whenever the invalidity of a land patent does not appear upon the face of the instrument, or by matters of which the courts will take judicial notice, and the land is apparently within the jurisdiction of the-land department as ordinary public land of the United States, then it would seem to be technically more accurate to say that the patent was voidable, not void.</p> <p>The defence of laches, put in in this case, is the assertion of an independent defence, proceeding upon the concession that there was, under the laws of the United States a prior right, and conceding that, says that the delay in respect to its assertion prevents its present recognition; and the court is of opinion that the decision of the Supreme Court of Montana in this case was based upon an independent non-Federal question, broad enough to sustain its judgment.</p>