Peyton v. Desmond

Citations

• 129 F. 1
• 63 C.C.A. 651
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4004

Syllabus

<p>1. Venue — Action to Recover for Trespass to Real Estate — Local or Transitory, According to Law oe State Where Brought.</p> <p>Whether an action to recover pecuniary damages for trespass to real estate is real and local, or is personal and transitory, is essentially a matter of state policy or local law, and must be determined by the view taken of the nature of the action in the state in which it is brought.</p> <p>2. Same — Minnesota.</p> <p>In Minnesota an action to recover pecuniary damages for trespass to real estate in another state is viewed, not as relating to the real estate, but only as affording a personal remedy, and transitory.</p> <p>3. Same — Pleading—Action to Recover fob Cutting and Removal of Timber — When Transitory.</p> <p>Where the facts stated and the relief demanded show that the gravamen of the action is the conversion of lumber manufactured out of trees wrongfully cut and removed from plaintiff’s land by defendant, and that the purpose of the action is to recover the value of the lumber, and not damages for any depreciation in the value of the land, the action is transitory, although the trespass to the land is stated as illustrating the character of the conversion, and as bearing upon plaintiff’s right to recover the value of the manufactured lumber.</p> <p>4. Same.</p> <p>The giving of an instruction in such an action, at the request of the defendant, that the measure of damages recoverable was the value of the logs as they stood in the trees, could not change the nature of the action, whether or not it stated the correct measure of damages; nor can it be invoked by defendant to defeat the jurisdiction of the court.</p> <p>5. Public Lands — Proceedings to Acquire Title — Jurisdiction of Land Department.</p> <p>The jurisdiction of the Land Department over public lands continues so long as the legal title remains in the United States, and the decisions and rulings of that department in proceedings to acquire title to such lands, prior to