Rector v. Gibbon

Citations

• 111 U.S. 276
• 4 S. Ct. 605
• 28 L. Ed. 427
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1783

Syllabus

<p>Hot Springs Reservation — Public Lands — Estoppel.</p> <p>The powers conferred upon the commissioners appointed under the “ Act in relation to the Hot Springs Reservation in the State of Arkansas ” passed March 3d, 1877, 19 Stat. 377, were analogous to those conferred upon the Receiver and Register of the Land Office in cases of conflicting claims to pre-emption.</p> <p>The aim of Congress in statutes relieving parties from the consequences of defects in title has been to protect bona fide settlers, and not intruders upon the original settlers, seeking by violence, or fraud, or breach of contract to appropriate the benefit of their labor. The legislation in this respect and the decisions of this court upon it reviewed.</p> <p>The provision in § 5 of the act of March 3d, 1877, that the commissioners shall “ finally determine the right of each claimant or occupant,” relates to the legal title which under the act is to pass from the United States ; but it does not preclude a court of equity, alter issue of a patent in accordance with the determination of the commissioners, from inquiring whether the legal title from the United States is not equitably subject to a trust in favor of other parties. Johnson v. Towsley, 13. Wall. 73, cited and followed.</p> <p>After the passage of the act of June 11th, 1870, 16 Stat. 149, referring the title in the Hot Springs Reservation to the Court of Claims, but before the adjudications under it, A, who had been in possession of a tract in the reservation for nearly forty years, leased it to B, with a covenant from B to surrender at the expiration of the term. In the proceedings under that act A’s title was adjudged invalid. Hot Springs Cases, 93 U. S. 60S. Under the act of March 3d, 1877, 19 Stat. 377, A and one claiming by assignment from B appeared before the commissioners, each claiming the right to receive the certificate for the leased tract. The commissioners adjudged it to B’s assignee, and a patent issued accordingly. Held,