Doolan v. Carr

• Citation: 125 U.S. 618,8 S.Ct. 1228,31 L.Ed. 844
• Parties: DOOLAN et al. v. CARR
• Decision Date: 21 November 1887
• Court: United States Supreme Court

125 U.S. 618

8 S.Ct. 1228

31 L.Ed. 844

DOOLAN et al. v. CARR.

November 21, 1887.

Mich. Mullany, for plaintiffs in error.

A. T. Britton, A. B. Browne, and Walter H. Smith, for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 619-620 intentionally omitted]

MILLER, J.

William B. Carr, the defendant in error, brought his action of ejectment in the circuit court of the United States for the district of California against James Doolan and James McCue, to recover possession of 320 acres of land, described as 'the east half of section 27, township 2, range 1 east of the Mount Diablo base and meridian, of the public land surveys of the United States of America, in the state of California,' and he had judgment for the land. No citizenship of either party is alleged, and this is urged as a ground of reversal in this court, to which the case has been brought by a writ of error. It, however, appears very clearly that the controversy turns upon the validity of the patent from the United States under which plaintiff claims title, and which was denied by the defendants. The circuit court for the district of California, therefore, had jurisdiction of the case as one arising under the constitution and laws of the United States within the meaning of the act of March 3, 1875, (18 U. S. St. at Large, 470.)

On the trial before the jury the plaintiff introduced in evidence a patent from the United States to the Central Pacific Railroad Company for the land in question, among many other tracts, dated February 28, 1874. This patent purported to be issued under 'the act of congress approved July 1, 1862, as amended by the act of July 2, 1864, to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes, and the act of March 3, 1865,' and in accordance with the laws of the state of California. by which the Central Pacific Railroad Company and the Western Pacific Railroad Company were consolidated. Although the introduction of this patent was objected to by the defendants, it appears upon its face to be valid, and it was therefore properly admitted as evidence. The plaintiff also introduced a deed of conveyance r om the Central Pacific Railroad Company to himself, and, after further evidence as to the use and occupation of the land, its value, and that the amount in controversy was over $10,000, rested. The defendants thereupon, in order to show that the patent to the railroad company was issued without authority of law, and therefore void, offered evidence to show 'that on, to-wit, April 10 A. D. 1839, the Mexican government granted to Jose Noriega and Robert Livermore a certain tract of land known by the name 'Las Pocitas,' and which embraced all the land within the following boundaries, viz.: Bounded on the north by the Loinas de las Cuevas on the east by the Sierra de Buenos Ayres, on the south by the dividing line of the establishment of San Jose, and on the west by the rancho of Don Jose Dolores Pacheco, containing in all two square leagues, provided that quantity be contained within the said boundaries; and, if less than that quantity be found to be contained therein, then that less quantity, and all of said described tract of land. That the departmental assembly of the Mexican nation confirmed said grant to said Noriega and Livermore on, to-wit, May 22, 1840. That on, to-wit, February 27, 1852, said Noriega and Livermore petitioned the board of land commissioners appointed under the provisions of the act of congress approved March 3, 1851, entitled 'An act to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the state of California,' to have said grant confirmed; and on, to-wit, the 14th day of February, A. D. 1854, the said board of land commissioners confirmed the same to said Nori ega and Livermore, their heirs and assigns; and the decree of confirmation, so made to said Mexican grant, by said board of land commissioners, described the boundaries thereof to be: On the north by the Lomas de las Cuevas, on the east by the Sierra de Buenos Ayres, on the south by the dividing line of the establishment of San Jos e, and on the west by the rancho of Don Jos e Dolores Pacheco, provided that within the same no greater quantity than two square leagues were found to be contained; and, if a less quantity should be found therein, then that less quantity was confirmed, and all of said described tract of land. That the United States district court for the Northern district of California, on appeal to it from said decree of the board of land commissioners, duly confirmed said Mexican grant on, to-wit, February 18, A. D. 1859, to the same extent, and by the same description, and under the same conditions, as said board of land commissioners had done; and the supreme court of the United States, at the December term, A. D. 1860, affirmed the said decree of said United States district court, and every part thereof. That during the year 1865 an official survey of the lands so confirmed to said Noriega and Livermore was made by or under the directions of the surveyor general of the United States for the state of California, and which was duly approved by said surveyor general in the year A. D. 1866, and which survey included the half section of land described in the complaint herein. That said survey was set aside by the secretary of the interior in the year A. D. 1868, and a new survey ordered to be made of said Mexican grant, within the boundaries set forth in said decrees, which should contain but two square leagues of land, or thereabouts. That in March, 1869, the United States surveyor general for California caused the said Mexican grant to be surveyed and designated in accordance with the claims thereof, and within the boundaries set forth in said decrees of confirmation,—the amount so segregated consisting of about two square leagues, in accordance with the said order of the secretary of the interior; and said survey was approved by said surveyor general on, to-wit, May 11, 1870; and the said survey was approved by the commissioner of the general land-office on, to-wit, March 1, 1871; and said survey was finally approved by the secretary of the interior on to-wit, June 6, 1871, and on said last-named date the surplus (or sobrante) of the land embraced within the boundaries contained in said grant and in said decrees became freed and discharged from the claims and reservation of said Mexican grant, and became public land of the United States, and a part of the public domain thereof. That the entire half section of land described in the complaint herein is located and embraced within the boundaries stated and tract described in and confirmed by the said decree of the board of land commissioners of the United States district court and of the supreme court of the United States; but it was not included within the tract so surveyed in March, 1869, and finally approved on June 6, A. D. 1871, as aforesaid, as the final survey of said Mexican grant; and said half section of land described in the complaint herein was held and claimed as a part and parcel of said Mexican grant, and was reserved as such continually from the 10th day of April, A. D. 1839, down to the 6th day of June, A. D. 1871, and on said last-named day it became for the first time public land of the United States. That the line of the road of said Western Pacific Railroad Company of California was definitely fixed, under the provisions of said act of congress, on, to-wit, the 30th day of January, 1865, under and within the intent and meaning of the provisions of the act of congress of July 1, 1862, entitled 'An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean,' and the act amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto; and that on the 31st day of January, 1865, the lands within the limits designated by said acts of congress as being granted to said railroad company were withdrawn from pre-emption, private entry, and sale under the provisions of said acts, and that no part of the lands described in the complaint has been taken or used for any depot, shop, switch, turn-out, or roadbed of said railroad or of said railroad company. That said railroad was completed prior to the year 1870. The plaintiff objected to the proof thus offered to be made by the defendants, and to other proof not material to the point now under consideration, on the ground 'that the United States patent cannot be collaterally attacked in this action; that it can be attacked by bill in equity only; that the said United States patent, and the recitals therein contained, are conclusive evidence in this action that the legal title of the lands therein described was granted and transferred by the United States to the grantee named in said patent, and, taken in connection with the deed from the railroad company to the plaintiff, is conclusive evidence of the plaintiff's right to recover.' The court sustained the objection, and refused to allow said proof, or any part of it, to be made, to which the defendants excepted. The court then charged the jury that 'the patent title to this land to the Central Pacific Railroad Company is conclusive in this case. It cannot be attacked in a collateral manner. If it can be attacked at all, it is only by a direct proceeding for the purpose of vacating the patent; and, without further remark upon this, one way or the other, it may be sufficient to say that I charge you the law is that, so far as this case is concerned, the patent from the government to the railroad company—the first patent introduced here—is conclusive of the rights of the parties in this case.' To this charge the defendants excepted, and the case before us turns upon the correctness of the ruling of the court on the proposition that in this action at law none of the evidence offered by the defendants could be...