Thayer v. Spratt

Citations

• 189 U.S. 346
• 23 S. Ct. 576
• 47 L. Ed. 845
• 1903 U.S. LEXIS 1358

Syllabus

<p>On proceedings to cancel an entry which has been transferred, where the Land Department has notice thereof, aüd the records show the name and address of the transferee, the transferee has a right to notice.</p> <p>Upon a writ of error to a state court this court has no right to review its decision upon the ground that the finding was against evidence or the weight of evidence.</p> <p>It appearing from the facts that at the time of making their entries entry-men were entitled to purchase lands under the act of Congress of June 3, 1878, for the sale of timber lands in Washington Territory and elsewhere, and that in the purchase of the land they fully complied with the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the Land Department; that the applications were allowed and certificates duly issued as applied for, and.the lands included in the entries were at all times chiefly valuable for timber thereon and at that time unfit for cultivation; and that thereafter based upon a misconstruction of the act o.f 1878 the land office cancelled the entries on the ground that as the land could be cultivated after the removal' of the timber it .was not subject to entry as timber land:</p> <p>Held, that the original entries were valid and that tlie conveyances of the original entrymen passed a good title to their grantee for which he was entitled to'a patent from the United States.</p>