VANHORNE'S LESSEE v. DORRANCE

• Decision Date: 01 January 1795
• Citation: 2 U.S. 304
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

2 U.S. 304 (F.Cas.) 2 Dall. 304

Vanhorne's Lessee v. Dorrance Circuit Court, Pennsylvania District April Term, 1795

This was a cause of great expectation, involving several important questions of constitutional law, in relation to the territorial controversy between the States of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. After a trial, which continued for 15 days, the presiding Judge delivered the following charge to the Jury, comprising a full review of all the important facts and principles, that had occurred during the discussion.

Patterson, Justice.

Having arrived at the last stage of this long and interesting cause, it now becomes the duty of the Court to sum up the evidence, and to declare the law arising upon it. A mass of testimony has been brought forward in the course of the trial, the far greater part of which is altogether immaterial, and can be of no use in forming a decision. The great points, on which the cause turns, are of a legal nature; they are questions of law; and, therefore, for the sake of the parties, as well as for my own sake, they ought to be put in a train for ultimate adjudication by the Supreme Court. In the administration of justice it is a consolatory idea, that no opinion of a single judge can be final and decisive; but that the same may be removed before the highest tribunal for revision, where, if erroneous, it will be rectified. For the sake of clearness, I shall consider,

1st. The title of the plaintiff. 2nd. The title of the defendant. I. The Title of the Plaintiff. In deducing the title, the plaintiff exhibited: 1. The charter or grant from Ch. 2. to William Penn. The lands in question lie within the limits of this charter. 2. *A Deed from the Six Nations to Thomas and Richard Penn. To this deed a map is annexed and made part of it, by which the land conveyed is accurately delineated, or laid down. This mode of procedure is eminently just and laudable; it furnishes a precedent, which, as far as possible, ought to be observed in

* Nov. 5th 1768.

Page 2 U.S. 304, 305

every transfer of land made by the Indians, as it obviously tends to quiet the spirit of jealousy, to remove suspicion, and prevent imposition and fraud. 3. *A warrant to survey for the proprietors, certain tracts of land containing twenty thousand acres. 4. *Survey of the above lands. The land in controversy lies within the Indian deed to the Penns, and is covered by this survey. 5. *Lease from Thomas & Richard Penn to Thomas Van Horne, for the term of seven years, of lot No. 38, containing one hundred acres. 6. Instructions to lay out and sell the land. 7. *Allotment to Thomas Van Horne of lot No. 20, containing 190 acres and 90 perches. 8. *Warrant from Richard Penn, lieutenant governor, to make a separate return of lot No. 20, to Thomas Van Horne. A separate return was made accordingly, and marked on the general survey of March 1771. 9. *Patent from Thomas and John Penn to Thomas Van Horne for lot No. 20. The consideration money was paid agreeably to contract. 10. *Deed from Thomas Van Horne to Cornelius Van Horne, lessor of the plaintiff, for lot No. 20. It is in evidence, that this lot was built upon, fenced, tilled, and improved by Van Horne. It is also in evidence, that John Dorance, the defendant, is in possession of, and resides upon, the said lot. Such is the title upon which the plaintiff rests his cause. It is clearly deduced and legally correct; and, therefore, unless sufficient appears on the part of the defendant, will entitle the plaintiff to your verdict. To repel the plaintiff's right, and to establish his own, the defendant sets up a title.

1st. Under Connecticut. 2nd. Under the Indians. 3rd. Under Pennsylvania.

I. Under Connecticut.

The title under Connecticut is of no avail: Because the land in controversy is ex-territorial; it does not lie within the charter bounds of Connecticut, but within the charter-bounds of Pennsylvania. The charter of Connecticut does not cover or spread over the lands in question: Of course no title can be derived from Connecticut. Here then the defendant fails. [305-Continued]

II. Under the Indians.

The Indian deed, under which the defendant claims, bears date the 11th of July 1754. It has been observed, that this

* 29th Octob. 1768.

* 8th & 9th Dec. 1768.

* 1st March. 1769.

* Feb. & March 1771.

* 15th Jan. 1772.

* 17th Jan. 1772.

* 15th Nov. 1774.

Page 2 U.S. 304, 306

deed is radically defective and faulty; that fraud is apparent on the face of it; and, particularly, that the specification or description of the land is written on a razure. Of this, gentlemen, you will judge, as the deed will be given to you for inspection. Permit me to observe, that there are several ways, by which a deed may be voided or rendered of no effect. One of these is by razure, addition, interlining, or other alteration, in any material part, if done after its execution. It is the province of the jury to determine, whether any such alteration was made after the delivery of the deed. Besides, this deed appears to have been executed at different times; and not in that open, public, national manner, in which the Indians sell and transfer their lands. But if the deed was fairly obtained; if it has legal existence, then what is its legal operation? By the charter to William Penn, the right of pre-emption attached, and was vested in him, to all the lands comprehended within its limits. The Penn family had, exclusively, the right of purchasing the lands of the Indians; and, indeed, the Indians entered into a stipulation of that kind. Again, this deed is invalid by the laws of Pennsylvania. The Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an act passed the 7th Feb. 1705, declare; 'That if any person presume to buy any land of the natives, within the limits of this province and territories, without leave from the proprietary thereof, every such bargain or purchase shall be void and of no effect.' (1 Penn. Laws. Dall. Ed. 5.) By an act passed the 14th Feb. 1729 30, it is further declared; 'That every gift, grant, bargain, sale, written or verbal contract or agreement, and every pretended conveyance, lease, demise, and every other assurance made, or that shall hereafter be made, with any of the Indian natives, for any lands, &c. within the limits of this province, without the order or direction of the proprietary or his commissioners, shall be null, void, and of no effect.' (1 Penn. Laws. Dall. Ed. 248.) The land in controversy, being within the limits of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut settlers were, in legal estimation, trespassers and intruders. They purchased the land without leave, and entered upon it without right. They purchased and entered upon the land without the consent of the Legislature of Connecticut. True it is, that the Legislature of Connecticut gave a subsequent approbation, but this was posterior to the deed executed by the Six Nations to Penn, at fort Stanwix, and the principle of relation does not retrospect so as to affect third persons. The consequence is, that the Connecticut settlers derive no title under the Indian deed.

Page 2 U.S. 304, 307

III. The title which the defendant sets up under Pennsylvania. This is the keystone of the defendant's title, as one of his counsel very properly expressed it. It required no great fagacity to perceive, that the defendant's hope of success was founded on a law of Pennsylvania, commonly called 'the quieting and confirming act.' This act, and the two subsequent ones of a suspending and a repealing nature, open an extensive and important field for discussion. In general verdicts, it frequently becomes necessary for juries to decide upon the law as well as the facts. To form a correct judgment, legal principles must be taken up and applied, and when this is done in a proper manner, it gives stability to judicial decisions, and security to civil rights. Hence uniformity and certainty; hence the decisions of tomorrow will be like the decisions of to-day; they will run in the same line, because they are founded on the same principles. To aid you, Gentlemen, in forming a verdict, I shall consider: I. The constitutionality of the confirming act; or, in other words, whether the Legislature had authority to make that act? Legislature is the exercise of sovereign authority. High and important powers are necessarily vested in the Legislative body; whose acts, under some forms of government, are irresistible and subject to no controul. In England, from whence most of our legal principles and legislative notions are derived, the authority of the Parliament is transcendant and has no bounds.

'The power and jurisdiction of Parliament, says Sir Edward Coke, is so transcendant and absolute, that it cannot be confined, either for causes or persons, within any bounds. And of this high court, he adds, it may be truly said, Si antiquitatem spectes, est vetustissima; si dignitatem, est honoratissima; si jurisdictionem, est capacissima. It has sovereign and uncontroulable authority in the making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal: [307-Continued]

This being the place where that absolute despotic power, which must in all governments reside somewhere, is entrusted by the constitution of these kingdoms. All mischiefs and grievances, operations and remedies, that transcend the ordinary course of the laws, are within the reach of this extraordinary tribunal. It can regulate or new model the succession to the crown; as was done in the reign of Henry VIII. and William III. It can alter the established religion of the land; as was done in a variety of instances, in the reigns of king Henry VIII. and his three children. It can change and create afresh even the constitution of the kingdom and of Parliaments themselves; as was done by the act of union, and the several statutes for triennial and...