Edward Love v. Annie Flahive

• Decision Date: 25 March 1907
• Docket Number: No. 236,236
• Citation: 27 S.Ct. 486,51 L.Ed. 768,205 U.S. 195
• Parties: EDWARD H. LOVE, Plff. in Err., v. ANNIE FLAHIVE and Andrew J. Lansing
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

205 U.S. 195

27 S.Ct. 486

51 L.Ed. 768

EDWARD H. LOVE, Plff. in Err.,

v ANNIE FLAHIVE and Andrew J. Lansing.

No. 236.

Submitted March 8, 1907.

Decided March 25, 1907.

On December 3, 1900, Edward H. Love commenced this suit in the district court of Missoula county, Montana, to have Annie Flahive, the holder of the legal title to a specified tract in that county, adjudged to hold it in trust for him. A demurrer to the complaint was sustained by the district court, and, no amendment being asked, judgment was entered for the defendants. This judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state (33 Mont. 348, 83 Pac. 882), from which court the case was brought here on writ of error.

The facts, as stated in the complaint and attached exhibits, are that plaintiff, with the purpose of entering the land as a homestead, and being qualified therefor, in May, 1882, settled upon, occupied, and fenced the entire tract, with the exception of the north 20 acres thereof. In addition to a controversy in the Land Department with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which claimed the land under its grant, but whose claim was finally rejected, he had a contest in the Land Department with Michael Flahive, who was also seeking to enter the land, which, after several hearings before the local land officers, with appeals to and decisions by the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Secretary of the Interior, resulted in a final decision against him and an award of the land to the defendant Annie Flahive, the widow of Michael Flahive, who had died pending the proceedings. In pursuance of that award a patent was issued to her in December, 1899.

Messrs. Thomas C. Bach and Charles Edmund Pew for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. S. M.Stockslager, George C. Heard, Elmer E. Hershey, and Woody & Woody for defendants in error.

Statement by Mr. Justice Brewer:

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff rests his case on the contention that in the conclusions of the Secretary of the Interior there was error in matter of law, inasmuch as it is well settled that in the absence of fraud or imposition the findings of the Land Department on matters of fact are conclusive upon the courts. Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall. 72, 20 L. ed. 485; Lee v. Johnson, 116 U. S. 48, 29 L. ed. 570, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 249; Lake Superior Ship Canal, R. & Iron Co. v. Cunningham, 155 U. S. 354, 375, 39 L. ed. 183, 190, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 103; Burfenning v. Chicago, St. P. M. & O. R. Co. 163 U. S. 321, 323, 41 L. ed. 175, 176, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1018; Gonzales v. French, 164 U. S. 338, 41 L. ed. 458, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 102; Johnson v. Drew, 171 U. S. 93, 99, 43 L. ed. 88, 90, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 800.

He also invokes the authority of Noble v. Union River Logging R. Co. 147 U. S. 176, 37 L. ed. 127, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 271, to the effect that when, by the action of the Department, a right of property has become vested in an applicant, it can be taken away only by a proceeding directly for that purpose, and contends that his right to the land was determined by certain findings of the Commissioner of the General Land Office on July 26, 1892, affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior on January 12, 1894. It is doubtless true that when once a patent has issued the jurisdiction of the Land Department over the land ceases, and any right of the government or third parties must be asserted by proceedings in the courts. United States v. Stone, 2 Wall. 525, 235, 17 L. ed. 765, 767; Michigan Land & Lumber Co. v. Rust, 168 U. S. 589, 593, 42 L. ed. 591, 592, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 208, and cases cited. It may also be conceded that a right of property may become vested by a decision of the Land Department, of which the applicant cannot be deprived except upon proceedings directly therefor, and of which he has notice. Cornelius V. Kessel, 128 U. S. 456, 32 L. ed. 482, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 122; Orchard v. Alexander, 157 U. S. 372, 383, 39 L. ed. 737, 741, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 635; Parsons v. Venzke, 164 U. S. 89, 41 L. ed. 360, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 27; Michigan Land & Lumber Co. v. Rust, supra. Without undertaking to indicate the limits to which this can be carried, it is enough to say that the proceedings in this case, both in the local land offices and by appeals and reviews in the General Land Office, were within the settled rules of procedure established by the Department in respect to such matters. Generally speaking, the Land Department has jurisdiction until the legal title has passed, and the several steps in this controversy were before the issue of the patent, while the jurisdiction of the Land Department continued, and with both parties present and participating. The question of title was in process of administration, and until the patent issued nothing was settled so as to stop further inquiry. Knight v. United Land Asso. 142 U. S. 161, 35 L. ed. 974, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 258; Michigan Land & Lumber Co. v. Rust, supra. So, although it be conceded that the findings of the Secretary of the Interior, in 1894, were to the effect that the plaintiff had a right to enter the land, that decision was not final, and it was within the jurisdiction of the Land Department to institute further inquiry, and upon it to finally award the land to the party held to have the better right.

...