Smith v. Townsend

Citation13 S.Ct. 634,148 U.S. 490,37 L.Ed. 533
Decision Date03 April 1893
Docket NumberNo. 1173,1173
PartiesSMITH v. TOWNSEND
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Statement by Mr. Justice BREWER:

On April 30, 1891, the appellant filed his complaint in the district court of Oklahoma county, territory of Oklahoma. In this complaint he alleged his citizenship, and full qualification to enter public lands under the homestead laws of the United States. That during the years 1888 and 1889 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railorad Company was engaged in operating a railroad through the Indian Territory, having a right of way therein, granted by treaty with the Indians and acts of congress. That during those years he was employed as a section hand by said company, and resided in a station house belonging to it, on the right of way, at a place known as 'Edmond Station.' That he entered into the employment of the railroad company, and continued in such employment, and commenced living at said Edmond Station, without any intent to take lands within the Indian Territory, but solely to discharge his duties as an employe of the company. That when the lands surrounding said station were open to settlement under the acts of congress of March 1 and 2, 1889, and the proclamation of the president of March 23, 1889, plaintiff was at said Edmond Station, and on said right of way, and soon after the hour of noon on April 22, 1889, went upon the land in controversy, and settled upon it as his homestead, and with the intention to occupy and enter it as his homestead under the laws of the United States. That pursuant to such intention he built a house thereon, and otherwise improved the premises, and dwelt upon it as his home, and on April 23, 1889, duly made an entry at the proper land office at Guthrie, Ind. T. That on the 22d of June, 1889, the defendant filed in the local land office a contest, which contest was heard in such land office on the following statement of facts:

'Alexander F. Smith had been for a long time prior to March 2, 1889, in the employ of the A., T. & S. F. R. R. Co. as a section hand, and on January 30, 1889, came to Edmond, Oklahoma territory, in that capacity, bringing his family with him. He did not enter the territory with the expectation or intention of taking land in the Oklahoma territory. He remained in the employ of the railroad company until noon of April 22, 1889, Santa Fe R. R. time, when he removed his tent to a point about one hundred and fifty yards distant from the right of way of said railroad, and on the land in controversy, where he put it up, and moved into it. From January 30, 1889, Smith lived with his family in his tent on the right of way of the A., T. & S. F. R. R., where it passes through the land in controversy. Prior to April 22, 1889, Smith had indicated his intention to take the land in controversy by stating the fact to his fellow workmen, but had done no act towards carrying out said intention. A notice was posted at the station of Edmond by A., T. & S. F. R. R. Co., warning all employes that if they expected to take land they must leave the Oklahoma country, and this fact was called to Smith's notice. Smith has, since noon of April 22, 1889, continued to reside upon, cultivate, and improve said land, in good faith, as a homestead, and now has improvements thereon. Smith is a legally qualified homesteader, unless excluded by reason of his being in the Oklahoma country prior to April, 1889. Smith is at present in the employ of the A., T. & S. F. R. R. Co., and has been most of the time since April 22, 1889.'

That on the trial of said contest the local land officers decided in plaintiff's favor, but on appeal to the commissioner of the land office he reversed their decision, which ruling of the commissioner was subsequently affirmed by the secretary of the interior; and on February 28, 1891, plaintiff's homestead entry was canceled; and that the defendant, on March 12, 1891, made a homestead entry of the land, which homestead entry was, on the 30th day of April, 1891, commuted, the land paid for at a dollar and a quarter per acre, and a final receipt issued therefor. Plaintiff claims that there was error of law in the ruling of the commissioner of the land office and of the secretary of the interior, and prays that the defendant be decreed to hold the legal title to the land in trust for his use and benefit. To this bill of complaint a demurrer was filed, which, on May 16, 1891, was sustained by the district court, and the complaint dismissed. From the decree of dismissal an appeal was taken to the supreme court of the territory, which, on the 1st day of February, 1892 affirmed the decision of the district court. From that judgment of affirmance the appellant has appealed to this court.

A. H. Garland and Heber J. May, for appellant.

Chas. A. Maxwell and George S. Chase, for appellee.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Parker and John F. Stone, U. S. Dist. Atty.

Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

This case turns on the construction to be given to the acts of March 1 and 2, 1889, and the proclamation of the president of March 23, 1889. The act of March 1, 1889, (25 St. pp. 757, 759,) was an act ratifying and confirming an agreement with the Muscogee (or Creek) Indians in the Indian Territory, whereby a large body of their lands had been ceded to the United States. The second section of the act was in these words:

'That the lands acquired by the United States under said agreement shall be a part of the public domain, but they shall only be disposed of in accordance with the laws regulating homestead entries, and to the persons qualified to make such homestead entries, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to one qualified claimant; and the provisions of section twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not apply to any lands acquired under said agreement. Any person who may enter upon any part of said lands in said agreement mentioned prior to the time that the same are opened to settlement by act of congress shall not be permitted to occupy or to make entry of such lands or lay any claim thereto.'

In the general Indian appropriation act, passed the next day, March 2, 1889, (25 St. pp. 980, 1005,) was contained this provision, applicable to these lands, as well as to lands acquired from the Seminoles:

'And provided further, that each entry shall be in sequare form as nearly as practicable, and no person be permitted to enter more than one quarter section thereof; but until said lands are opened for settlement by proclamation of the president no person shall be permitted to enter upon and occupy the same, and no person violating this provision shall ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any right thereto.'

And the proclamation of the president of March 23, 1889, contained this warning: 'Warning is hereby again expressly given that no person entering upon and occupying said lands before said hour of twelve o'clock noon of the twenty-second day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, hereinbefore fixed, will ever be permitted to enter any of said lands or acquire any rights thereto; and that the officers of the United States will be required to strictly enforce the provision of the act of congress to the above effect.' 26 St. p. 1546.

It is well settled that where the language of a statute is in any manner ambiguous, or the meaning doubtful, resort may be had to the surrounding circumstances, the history of the times, and the defect or mischief which the statute was intended to remedy. Thus, in Heydon's Case, 3 Coke, 7 b, it is stated that it was resolved by the barons of the exchequer as follows:

'For the sure and true interpretation of all statutes in general, be they penal or beneficial, restrictive or enlarging of the common law, four things are to be discerned and considered: First. What was the common law before the making of the act? Second. What was the mischief and defect for which the common law did not provide? Third. What remedy the parliament hath resolved and appointed to cure the disease of the commonwealth? Fourth. The true reason of the remedy.'

And by this court, in U. S. v. Union Pac. R. Co., 91 U. S. 72, 79, it was said that 'courts, in construing a statute, may with propriety recur to the history of the times when it was passed; and this is frequently necessary, in order to ascertain the reason as well as the meaning of particular provisions in it. Aldridge v. Williams, 3 How. 24; Preston v. Browder, 1 Wheat. 120.' And in Platt v. Union Pac. R. Co., 99 U. S. 48, 64, that, 'in endeavoring to ascertain what the congress of 1862 intended, we must, as far as possible, place ourselves in the light that congress enjoyed, look at things as they appeared to it, and discover its purpose from the language used in connection with the attending circumstances.' Pursuing an inquiry along this line, it will be seen that the Indian Territory lies between the state of Texas on the south and the state of Kansas on the north, and it is a matter of public history, of which we may take judicial notice, that, as these two states began to be filled up with settlers, longing eyes were turned by many upon this body of land lying between them, occupied only by Indians, and, though the territory was reserved by statute for the occupation of the Indians, there was great difficulty in restraining settlers from entering and occupying it. Repeated proclamations were issued by successive presidents, warning against such entry and occupation. Thus, on April 26, 1879, President Hayes issued a proclamation containing this warning:

'Now, therefore, for the purpose of properly protecting the interests of the Indian nations and tribes, as well as of the United States in said Indian Territory, and of duly enforcing the laws governing the same, I, Rutherford B. Hayes, president of the United States, do admonish and warn...

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