New Dunderberg Min. Co. v. Old

Citations

• 79 F. 598
• 25 C.C.A. 116
• 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2338

Syllabus

<p>1. Land Department of the United States—Judicial Power.</p> <p>The land department of the United States (including in that term the secretary of the interior, th’e commissioner of the general land office, and their subordinates) is- a quasi judicial- tribunal, whose judgments upon questions within its jurisdiction are impregnable to collateral attack.</p> <p>2. Patent to-Land—Legal Effect.</p> <p>A patent to land or mineral lodes within the jurisdiction of the land department conveys the legal title to the property, and constitutes a judgment of that tribunal upon the questions involved in its issue.</p> <p>3. Jurisdiction.</p> <p>The test of jurisdiction is whether or not the tribunal has power to enter upon the inquiry, not whether its conclusion in the course of it is right or wrong.</p> <p>4. Patent to Mining Claim—Act May 10. 1872.</p> <p>A patent issued in accordance with the provisions of the act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91, 94, c. 152, §§ 3, 9; Rev. St §§ 2322, 2328), to a mining claim located before the passage of that act, under the act of July 26, 1866 (14 Stat. 251, c. 262), conveys the legal title to every vein or lode, whose apex is within the exterior boundaries of the mining claim extended downward vertically, and is not subject to collateral attack in an action at law, either on the ground that there was a claim adverse to- that patented when the act of May 10, 1872, was passed, or on the ground that adverse rights were affected by its issue.</p> <p>5. Location and Entry of Mining Claim—Effect.</p> <p>One who locates and procures a patent to a mining claim under the act of May 10, 1872 (17 Stat. 91, 94, c. 152, §§ 3, 9; Rev. St. §§ 2322, 2328), thereby renounces and abandons all rights and privileges which do not pertain to his specific location under the provisions of that act.</p> <p>6 Location and Entry of .Mining Claim, under Act May 10, 1872—-Their Effect upon Rights Previously Acquired under Act July 26, 1866.</p> <p>A claimant, who discov