United States v. State of Texas

• Decision Date: 29 February 1892
• Citation: 12 S.Ct. 488,143 U.S. 621,36 L.Ed. 285
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. STATE OF TEXAS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

143 U.S. 621

12 S.Ct. 488

36 L.Ed. 285

UNITED STATES v. STATE OF TEXAS.

February 29, 1892.

[Statement of Case from pages 621-624 intentionally omitted] A. H. Garland, H. J. May, and C. A. Culberson, for the State of Texas.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 624-630 intentionally omitted] Edgar Allen, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.

Mr. Justice HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

This suit was brought by original bill in this court pursuant to the act of May 2, 1890, providing a temporary government for the territory of Oklahoma. The 25th section recites the existence of a controversy between the United States and the state of Texas as to the ownership of what is designated on the map of Texas as 'Greer County,' and provides that the act shall not be construed to apply to that county until the title to the same has been adjudicated and determined to be in the United States. In order that there might be a speedy and final judicial determination of this controversy the attorney general of the United States was authorized and directed to commence and prosecute on behalf of the United States a proper suit in equity in this court against the state of Texas, setting forth the title of the United States to the country lying between the North and South Forks of the Red river where the Indian Territory and the state of Texas adjoin, east of the 100th degree of longitude, and claimed by the state of Texas as within its boundary. 26 St. pp. 81, 92, c. 182, § 25.

The state of Texas appeared and filed a demurrer, and also an answer denying the material allegations of the bill. The case is now before the court only upon the demurrer, the principal grounds of which are that the question presented is political in its nature and character, and not susceptible of judicial determination by this court in the exercise of its jurisdiction as conferred by the constitution and laws of the United States, that it is not competent for the general government to bring suit against a state of the Union in one of its own courts, especially when the right to be maintained is mutually asserted by the United States and the state, namely, the ownership of certain designated territory; and that the plaintiff's cause of action, being a suit to recover real property, is legal, and not equitable and consequently so much of the act of May 2, 1890, as authorizes and directs the prosecution of a suit in equity to determine the rights of the United States to the territory in question is unconstitutional and void.

The necessity of the present suit as a measure of peace between the general government and the state of Texas, and the nature and importance of the questions raised by the demurrer, will appear from a statement of the principal facts disclosed by the bill and amended bill.

By a treaty between the United States and Spain, made February 22, 1819, and ratified February 19, 1821, it was provided:

'Art. 3. The boundary line between the two countries, west of the Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, con tinuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Natchitoches or Red river then following the course of the Rio Roxo, westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 20 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red river, and running thence, by a line due north, to the river Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea. The whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the 1st of January, 1818. But, if the source of the Arkansas river shall be found to fall north or south of latitude 42, then the line shall be run from the said source due south or north, as the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude 42, and thence, along the said parallel, to the South Sea. All the islands in the Sabine and the said Red and Arkansas rivers, throughout the course thus described, to belong to the United States; but the use of the waters, and the navigation of the Sabine to the sea, and of the said rivers Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said boundary, on their respective banks, shall be common to the respective inhabitants of both nations.

'The two high contracting parties agree to cede and renounce all their rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories described by said line; that is to say, the United States hereby cede to his Catholic majesty, and renounce forever, all their rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories lying west and south of the above-described line; and, in like manner, his Catholic majesty cedes to the said United States all his rights, claims, and pretensions to any territories east and north of the said line, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, renounces all claim to the said territories forever.' 8 St. pp. 252, 254, 256, art. 3.

For the purpose of fixing the line with precision, and of placing landmarks to designate the limits of both nations, it was stipulated that each appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who should meet, before the end of one year from the ratification of the treaty, at Natchitoches, in the Red river, and run and mark the line 'from the mouth of the Sabine to the Red river, and from the Red river to the river Arkansas, and to ascertain the latitude of the source of the said river Arkansas, in conformity to what is above agreed upon and stipulated, and the line of latitude 42, to the South Sea;' making out plans and keeping journals of their proceedings, and the result to be considered as part of the treaty, having the same force as if it had been inserted therein. Article 4, 8 St. p. 256.

At the date of the ratification of this treaty the country now constitating Texas belonged to Mexico, part of the monarchy of Spain. Subsequently, in 1824, Mexico became a separate, independent power, whereby the boundary line designated in the treaty of 1819 became the line between the United States and Mexico.

On the 12th of January, 1828, a treaty between the United States and Mexico was concluded, and subsequently, April 5, 1832, was ratified, whereby, as between those governments, the validity of the limits defined by the treaty of 1819 was confirmed. 8 St. p. 372.

By a treaty concluded April 25, 1838, between the United States and the republic of Texas, which was ratified and proclaimed October 12 and 13, 1838, it was declared that the treaty of limits made and concluded in 1828 between the United States and Mexico 'is binding upon the republic of Texas;' and in order to prevent future disputes and collisions in regard to the boundary between the two countries, as designated by the treaty of 1828, it was stipulated:

'Article 1. Each of the contracting parties shall appoint a commissioner and surveyor, who shall meet, before the termination of twelve months from the exchange of the ratification of this convention, at New Orleans, and proceed to run and mark that portion of the said boundary which extends from the mouth of the Sabine, where that river enters the Gulf of Mexico, to the Red river. They shall make out plans and keep journals of their proceedings, and the result agreed upon by them shall be considered as part of this convention, and shall have the same force as if it were inserted therein. * * *

'Art. 2. And it is agreed that, until this line is marked out, as is provided for in the foregoing article, each of the contracting parties shall continue to exercise jurisdiction in all territory over which its jurisdiction has hitherto been exercised, and that the remaining portion of the said boundary line shall be run and marked at such time hereafter as may suit the convenience of both the contracting parties, until which time each of the said parties shall exercise, without the interference of the other, within the territory of which the boundary shall not have been so marked and run, jurisdiction to the same extent to which it has been heretofore usually exercised.' 8 St. p. 511.

The treaty of 1838 had not been executed on the 1st day of March, 1845, when congress, by joint resolution, consented that 'the territory properly included within, and rightfully belonging to, the republic of Texas, may be erected into a new state,' upon certain conditions. 5 St. p. 797. Those conditions having been accepted, Texas, by a joint resolution of congress, passed December 29, 1845, was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever. 9 St. p. 108.

By an act of congress approved September 9, 1850, certain propositions were made on behalf of the United States to the state of Texas, to become obligatory upon the parties when accepted by Texas, if such acceptance was given on or before December 1, 1850. One of those propositions was that Texas would agree that its boundary on the north should commence at the point at which the meridian of 100 degrees west from Greenwich is intersected by the parallel of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, and run from that point due west to the meridian of 103 degrees west from Greenwich; thence due south to the thirty-second degree of north latitude; thence, on the parallel of 32 degrees of north latitude, to the Rio Bravo del Norte; and thence with the channel of said river to the Gulf of Mexico,—another, that Texas cede to the United States all her claim to territory exterior to the above limits and boundaries. In consideration of said establishment of boundaries, cession of claim to territory, and relinquishment of claims, the United States agreed to pay to Texas the sum of $10,000,000 in a stock bearing 5 per cent. interest, and redeemable at the end of 14 years, the interest...