Kinkead v. United States
Decision Date | 04 December 1893 |
Docket Number | No. 83,83 |
Citation | 37 L.Ed. 1152,14 S.Ct. 172,150 U.S. 483 |
Parties | KINKEAD et al. v. UNITED STATES |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Statement by Mr. Justice Brown:
This was a petition by John H. Kinkead and Samuel Sussman, claiming to be the owners and lawfully possessed of a certain warehouse in Sitka, Alaska, for the rent of a part of such warehouse at the rate of $200 per month, from December 15, 1868, to December 15, 1888, the date of the petition, amounting to $48,000; and also the further sum of $69,300 for rent of another part of the same building from September 12, 1869, to December 15, 1888; together with the further sum of $50,000 for the value of the building; the aggregate amount of the claim being $167,300.
Petitioners claimed to have purchased the building from the Russian-American Company, through Prince Maksoutoff, chief factor, for the sum of $3,000 in gold.
A former petition for the same claim had been presented to the court of claims, and dismissed by it for want of jurisdiction, upon the ground that, as the title set up by the claimants depended upon the construction of the treaty between the United States and the emperor of Russia, the court was without jurisdiction over the same. 18 Ct. Cl. 504. Whereupon claimants procured the passage of an act of congress, approved January 17, 1887, referring their claim to the court of claims for adjudication.
The petition under consideration having been heard, the court made a finding of facts, the substance of which appears in the opinion of this court, and entered a judgment dismissing the petition upon the ground that Kinkead and Sussman had no title to the property in question. From this judgment, petitioners appealed to this court.
John Mullan, George A. King, and Jos. K. McCammon, for appellants.
Asst. Atty. Gen. Dodge, for the United States.
Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.
Petitioners' title to the building in question which they claim to have bought of the Russian-American Company, a Russian corporation, soon after the cession of Alaska to the United States, depends upon the construction to be given to the treaty of March 30, 1867, between his majesty, the emperor of Russia, and the United States, (15 Stat. 539,) the correspondence and protocol connected therewith, and the act of congress of January 17, 1887, referring this claim to the court of claims for adjudication. Upon the hearing in the court of claims the court found
This building was erected in 1845 by the Russian-American Company, at their own expense, and from that time to the date of the treaty had been used by said company as a warehouse for the storage of furs and other property, and for trading purposes.
By what authority from Russia this land was built upon and occupied by said company, further than is shown in finding 2, (which relates solely to proceedings taken for the transfer of the ceded territory,) 'does not appear.'
By the first article of the treaty the emperor makes cession of 'all the territory and dominion now possessed by his said majesty on the continent of America and in the adjacent islands, the same being contained in the geographical limits herein set forth, to wit,' (boundaries,).
The second article provided that 'in the cession of the territory and dominion made by the preceding article are included the right of property in all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not private individual property.'
Article 4 provides for the appointment of an agent for each government, for the purpose of making and receiving formal delivery of the ceded territory, and 'for doing any other act which may be necessary in regard thereto.' 'But the cession, with the right of immediate possession, is nevertheless to be deemed complete and absolute on the exchange of ratifications, without waiting for such formal delivery.'
Article 6 provides that 'the cession of territory and dominion herein made is hereby declared to be free and unincumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or possessions, by any associated companies, whether corporate or incorporate, Russian or any other, or by any parties, except merely private individual property holders.'
It should be added in this connection, and as explanatory of the sixth article of the treaty, that on March 23, 1867, Mr. Seward, then secretary of state of the United States, addressed a letter to the Russian minister, in which he stated: To this letter the Russian minister made reply that he believed himself 'authorized to accede literally to this request on the conditions indicated' in the note of the secretary.
In pursuance of the fourth article of the treaty, the president appointed Gen. Rousseau commissioner to receive the formal transfer of the ceded territory, with instructions to 'enter into communication with Captain Pestchouroff, the Russian commissioner, now here, and arrange with him with regard to proceeding as soon as may be convenient to the territory,' etc.
The commissioners were further instructed to draw up and sign full inventories, distinguishing between the property to be transferred to the United States and that to be retained by individuals; and were also instructed to furnish the proprietors of individual property with a certificate of their right to hold the same upon production of documentary or other proof of ownership.
In his report of his proceedings, Gen. Rousseau stated: 'I found that by the charter of the Russian-American Company it had authority to vest in its employes, occupants of land in the territory, the title thereto. This was on condition, however, that the possessions of the Indians should not be interfered with.
'Acting under this charter, the company from the first caused dwellings to be erected for the use of its employes on lots of ground set apart for the purpose. The title in fee to such premises was often vested in the employe in possession when he had faithfully served out his term in the company, or, having died before it ended, and having a widow or children in the territory, the title was frequently vested in them.
'Finding in its charter this authority of the company to vest title to land in its employes, and that very many of the dwellings erected by the company were occupied by employes or their widows and children, who claimed the property in fee, the commissioners called on the governor, Prince Maksoutoff, to define and certify to the interest of each individual thus occupying such dwellings and lots, in order that we might distinguish between those who owned the property in fee and those who claimed a less interest, and in compliance with your instructions give certificates to the claimants accordingly.
'The inventories, respectively marked 'C' and 'D,' (forming part of the protocol,) which are forwarded with this report, will show in part the action of the governor in the premises. For the rest he gave a certificate stating the interest of each occupant in the premises occupied, on the back of which the commissioners placed their approval, and it was left to be delivered to the occupant.
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