Simmons v. Saul

• Decision Date: 02 March 1891
• Citation: 11 S.Ct. 369,138 U.S. 439,34 L.Ed. 1054
• Parties: SIMMONS et al. v. SAUL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

138 U.S. 439

11 S.Ct. 369

34 L.Ed. 1054

SIMMONS et al. v. SAUL.

March 2, 1891.

S. Davis Page, for appellants.

Le Roy J. Wolfe and John Douglas Brown, Jr., for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from page 440 intentionally omitted]

LAMAR, J.

This was a suit in equity, brought in the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, by ten citizens of Louisiana, two of Mississippi, and four of Texas, in their own behalf and in behalf of certain other persons whose names are not known, all of whom claim to be the legal descendants of Robert M. Simmons, late a citizen of Louisiana, against Harry R. Saul, a citizen of Pennsylvania. Its object was to charge the defendant, as the former owner of a tract of land in Wisconsin, as the trustee for complainants, with respect to said ownership, and have him account for the value of the lands, for all their rents and profits received by him and his grantees, and for all loss and damages resulting to the property by reason of the cutting of timber thereon by the defendant and his grantees, and for any other loss occasioned by the defendant's acts. The amended bill, filed December 23, 1890, contained, substantially, the following material averments:

In or about the year 1830, Robert M. Simmons died unmarried and intestate in Washington parish, La., seised and possessed of an inchoate land claim in St. Tammany parish, for 640 acres, founded upon the purchase of a settlement right, which claim was entered as No. 930, in the report of Commissioner James O. Cosby, dated June 7, 1812, and, with others, was confirmed by the act of congress of March 3, 1813. These complainants are the collateral heirs of Robert M. Simmons, being the lineal descendants of his brothers and sisters, and are all named specifically, excepting the descendants of one sister, who are alleged to be about seventy in number, and so widely scattered that it would be inconvenient to make all of them parties to the suit, wherefore it was asked that the suit might be maintained for the benefit of all the complainants who were named, and for the unnamed complainants who might afterwards intervene and become parties to it. By the law of Louisiana in force at the date of the death of Robert M. Simmons, and ever since, the heirs of a decedent become seised and possessed of his whole estate, both real and personal, immediately upon his death, subject only to their rights to renounce said succession, or to the right of creditors to require an administration thereof in case of non-action by the heirs. Such renunciation is not presumed, but must be made by formal act before a notary; but such acceptance may be evidenced by any act of the heirs indicating their intention to exercise ownership over the ancestor's property, and is always presumed, unless the contrary appear. After an acceptance by the heirs, or any of them, of the succession of their ancestor, no administrator can lawfully be appointed to administer thereon. For reasons not involving fault on the part of Robert M. Simmons, or any of his heirs, the said land claim remained unlocated and unsatisfied until congress passed the act of June 2, 1858, (11 St. 294,) the third and fourth sections of which provided as follows: 'Sec. 3. That in all cases of confirmation by this ct, or where any private land claim has been confirmed by congress, and the same, in whole or in part, has not been located or satisfied, either for want of a specific location prior to such confirmation, or for any reason whatesoever, other than a discovery of fraud in such claim subsequent to such confirmation, it shall be the duty of the surveyor general of the district in which such claim was situated, upon satisfactory proof that such claim has been so confirmed, and that the same, in whole or in part, remains unsatisfied, to issue to the claimant, or his legal representatives, a certificate of location for a quantity of land equal to that so confirmed and unsatisfied; which certificate may be located upon any of the public lands of the United States subject to sale at private entry, at a price not exceeding one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre: provided, that such location shall conform to legal divisions and subdivisions. Sec. 4. That the register of the proper land-office, upon the location of such certificate, shall issue to the person entitled thereto a certificate of entry, upon which, if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the general land-office that such certificate has been fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, a patent shall issue as in other cases.' No limit of time was fixed for the presentation of claims under that act for certificates of location therein provided for. During the lapse of time between the origin of said inchoate claim, its confirmation, and the passage of the act of congress for its satisfaction, many of those interested in it had died, and their heirs, or legal representatives, many of whom were minors, had become widely scattered, and by reason of such delay had lost all hope of satisfaction of the claim. Neither the complainantsn or any other persons interested in the claim, who were alive at the time the act was passed, knew of the existence of the claim, of the passage of that act, or of their rights thereunder, until within a year before the commencement of this suit; none of the surveyors general for the district of Louisiana, since the passage of the act, ever took any steps to apprise them of their rights, it being the practice to issue certificates of location under the act only upon application therefor; and none of the persons lawfully interested in the claim ever applied for or received any certificates of location in satisfaction of any part of the claim.

Notwithstanding the above facts and provisions of law, one Daniel J. Wedge, on the 8th of May, 1872, induced the district attorney pro tempore—one David Magee, of Washington parish, La.—to file his petition in the parish court of that parish, by the said Daniel J. Wedge, as attorney, alleging that the estate of Robert M. Simmons was vacant, and that it consisted of the confirmed but unsatisfied land claim hereinbefore referred to, which was less than $500 in value, and praying to be appointed administrator thereof, and for an inventory and sale of the same under the laws of Louisiana regulating the administration of vacant estates of less than $500 of value; that such proceedings were had that, on the 8th day of May, 1872, the judge of the parish court, in pursuance of said petition, issued an order purporting to appoint said David Magee administrator of said estate, and to direct an inventory of the same to be made, and a sale of the prop- erty, which might be found to belong thereto, to day debts; that said inventory was returned on the 9th day of May, 1872, and, on the 22d of the same month, a pretended sale of the claim was made in accordance with the aforesaid order, at which sale one Addison G. Foster pretended to purchase it for the sum of $30, which sum was wholly used and expended in the payment of the costs and expenses of such pretended administration, no other debts than those created thereby existing or being shown to exist. A copy of all those proceedings in the parish court was annexed to the bll, and made a part of it, and will be referred to more in detail as we proceed. At the time the pretended administration proceedings in the parish court were had, the parish court of Washington parish was a court of limited, special, and statutory jurisdiction, and in the matter of said proceedings pretended to act under special statutory authority, which is set out with some degree of particularity Afterwards said Addison G. Foster, claiming to be the legal representative of Robert M. Simmons by virtue of the aforesaid proceedings in the parish court, applied to Everett W. Foster, the surveyor general of the United States for the district of Louisiana, (who, it seems, was the brother of applicant,) for the delivery to him, as such legal representative, of the certificates of location in satisfaction of the aforesaid land claim, under the act of 1858, and the surveyor general, on or about the 31st day of August, 1872, prepared certificates of location for the whole claim, and forwarded them to the commissioner of the general land-office, who authenticated them, and afterwards delivered them to Chipman, Hosmer & Co., of Washington, D. C., as the agents for Foster. A copy of one of the certificates of location, with the form of the authentication by the commissioner, and the following certificate of the surveyor general for the district of Louisiana, is set out in full in the bill: 'I certify that from evidence filed in this office A. G. Foster is the legal representative of Robert M. Simmons, and as such is entitled to locate the within strip. E. W. FOSTER, Surveyor General.'

The evidence referred to in that indorsement consisted solely of the pretended act of sale under the administration proceedings before mentioned. Thereafter certain of those certificates were located by Addison G. Foster, or his agents, upon certain described lands in Wisconsin, and a patent for those lands was issued by the United States in the name of Robert M. Simmons, or his legal representatives, which patent recited the provisions of the third and fourth sections of the act of June 2, 1858, above set forth, the issue of the certificates of location by the survey or general of Louisiana, the name of the commissioner who originally reported the claim, the date of the confirming act, the number of the certificate by virtue of which the land was located, and that the location of the tract was 'in part satisfaction of the aforesaid claim or Robert M. Simmons.' Thereafter the defendant herein pretended to purchase those lands from said Addison G. Foster, through his attorney in fact, by quitclaim deed, which deed, together...