Zeller v. American International Corp.

Citations

• 271 Pa. 472
• 114 A. 778
• 1921 Pa. LEXIS 530

Syllabus

<p>Land law — Public lands — Board of Proyerty — Jurisdiction—Discretion — Records.</p> <p>1. The Board of Property is not a judicial tribunal, and its findings are not binding upon the courts.</p> <p>2. Its duties involve some discretion. It may assist incomplete titles by correcting errors, and the like, and its records are belpful in showing a vigilant pursuit of a claim in prosecution of a right.</p> <p>3. Its jurisdiction is primarily restricted to imperfect titles from the Commonwealth, but, once a patent issues, disputes over the patent must find settlement in the courts.</p> <p>Ejectment — Public lands — Application for patent — Delay —^ Abandonment — Right of entry — Act of January 27,1806.</p> <p>4. The mere filing of an application in the land office of the Commonwealth for a warrant to survey an alleged vacant and unappropriated island, under the Act of January 27, 1806, section 1, 4 Sm. L. 268, and the securing of a report from the secretary of internal affairs declaring the land vacant and ordering a warrant and survey to issue, does not give the applicant for the patent a right of entry sufficient to predicate an action of ejectment against one in possession of the land.</p> <p>5. Even if the application for a warrant, report thereon and order for survey gave the applicant a right of entry and incipient title necessary for a common l'aw action, the state would have the right to consider the application abandoned, where the order to survey, with the report, was not procured until eight years'after the application was filed.</p> <p>Ejectment — Plaintiff’s title — .Neglect of public officers to issue patent.</p> <p>6. In an action of ejectment the plaintiff is not in a position to strengthen his title by showing neglect of duty or violation of law by the officers of the land office in denying him a warrant for the land in question. He must depend on the strength of his own title not on the weakness of his adversary’s.</p> <p>Ejectment — Appeal from decis