State ex rel. Megler v. Forrest

Citations

• 13 Wash. 268
• 43 P. 51
• 1895 Wash. LEXIS 88

Syllabus

<p>TIDE LANDS — SALE—CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTES — MANDAMUS TO COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS—PLEADING.</p> <p>The statement, in an affidavit for mandamus to compel the commissioner of public lands to accept an application for the purchase of tide lands, that the relator had presented to the commissioner a duly certified plat of a survey of the land, and the field notes of such survey, is sufficient, so far as the pleading is concerned, and for the purpose of putting respondent upon his denial, to show a substantial compliance with the provisions of the tide land act of 1895, requiring the relator to show that he had made a survey of the lands applied for and that his surveys connected with the United States surveys.</p> <p>The determination by the commissioner of public lands that the plat of survey presented with an application for the purchase of tide lands is incorrect and indefinite is a matter which cannot be reviewed by the courts.</p> <p>Under Laws 1895, p. 570, § 106, repealing prior laws upon the subject of tide lands, but preserving all rights which have been acquired thereunder, the rights of applicants for the purchase of tide lands under the act of 1890, whose applications were pending at the time of the passage of the act of 1895, are saved, as such provision cannot be construed as having reference to vested rights.</p> <p>Laws 1889-90, p. 431, authorize the sale of tide lands of every description, whether there are improvements thereon, or whether there are abutting upland owners.</p>