United States v. Budd

Citations

• 144 U.S. 154
• 12 S. Ct. 575
• 36 L. Ed. 384
• 1892 U.S. LEXIS 2066

Syllabus

<p>When, in a court of equity, it is proposed to set aside, annul or correct a written instrument for fraud' or mistake in the execution of the instrument itself, the testimony on which this is done must be clear, unequivocal and-convincing, and not a bare preponderance of evidence; and this rule, well established in private litigations, has additional force when the object of the suit is to annul a patent issued by the United .States.</p> <p>The Maxwell Land Grant Case, 121 U. S. 325, is affirmed, and is quoted from and applied.</p> <p>When the defendant in a suit in equity appears and answers under oath, denying specifically the frauds .charged, no presumptions arise against him if he fails to offer himself as a witness as to the alleged frauds, inasmuch as the plaintiff can call him and cross-examine him.</p> <p>“ Public lauds- . . . valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit for cultivation,” within the meaning of the timber and stone act of June 3, 1878, 20 Stat. 89, c. 151, include lands covered with timber but which may be made fit for cultivation by removing the timber and working the lands.</p> <p>B. entered a quarter section of timber land in Washington under the act of June 3,1878, 20 Stat. 89, c. 151, and after receiving a patent for it transferred it to M. M. purchased quite a number of lots of timber lands in that vicinity, the title to 21 of which was obtained from the government within a year by various parties, but with the same two witnesses in each case, the deeds to 'M. reciting only a nominal consideration. These purchases were made shortly, after, of in some cases immediately before the payment to the government. B. and M. were both residents in Portland, Oregon. One of the two witnesses to the application was examining the lands in that vicinity and reporting to M. Held,</p> <p>(1) That all that the act of June 3, 1878, denounces is a prior agreement by which the patentee acts for another in the purchase;</p> <p>(2) That M. might rightfully go or