Lee v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 21 December 1885
• Citation: 6 S.Ct. 249,116 U.S. 48,29 L.Ed. 570
• Parties: LEE v. JOHNSON. 1 Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 249

116 U.S. 48

29 L.Ed. 570

LEE v. JOHNSON.¹

Filed December 21, 1885.

A. G. Riddle, H.

E. Davis, and Jas. E. Padgett, for plaintiff in error.

Jas. Blair, for defendant in error.

FILED, J.

This case comes from the circuit court of Emmet county, Michigan. It was originally commenced in that court, where a decree was rendered dismissing the suit. On appeal to the supreme court of the state the decree was reversed, and the circuit court directed to enter a decree in favor of the plaintiff for the relief prayed in the bill of complaint. The circuit court having complied with the mandate of the supreme court by entering that decree the defendant sued out the writ of error from this court to review it. The writ was directed to the judge of the circuit court because the final decree was entered and the record of the suit remained there. Atherton v. Fowler, 91 U. S. 143; Gelston v. Hoyt, 3 Wheat. 246.

The defendant in the court below, the plaintiff in error here, is the holder of a patent of the United States for a parcel of land in Michigan issued to him under the homestead laws, and the present suit was brought to charge him as trustee of the property, and to compel a conveyance to the plaintiff. The patent having been issued by officers of the land department, to whose supervision and control and intrusted the various proceedings required for the alienation of the public lands, all reasonable presumptions are indulged in support of their action. It cannot be attacked collaterally, but only by a direct proceeding instituted by the government or by parties acting in its name and by its authority. If, however, the officers, of the land department mistake the law applicable to the facts, or misconstrue the statutes and issue a patent to one not entitled to it, the party wronged can resort to a court of equity to correct the mistake and compel the transfer of the legal title to him as the true owner. The court in such a case merely directs that to be done which those officers would have done if no error of law had been committed.

The court does not interfere with the title of a patentee when the alleged mistake relates to a matter of facts, concerning which those officers may have drawn wrong conclusions from the testimony. A judicial inquiry as to the correctness of such conclusions would encroach upon a jurisdiction which Congress has devolved exclusively upon the department. It is only when fraud and imposition have prevented the unsuccessful party in a contest from fully presenting his case, or the officers from fully considering it, that a court will look into the evidence. It is not enough, however, that fraud and imposition have been practiced upon the department, or that false testimony or fraudulent documents have been presented; it must appear that they affected its determination, which, otherwise, would have been in favor of the plaintiff. He must in all cases show that but for the error or fraud, or imposition of which he complains, he would be entitled to the patent; it is not enough to show that is should not have been issued to the patentee. It is for the party whose rights are alleged to have been disregarded that relief is sought, not for the government, which can file its own bill when it desires the cancellation of a patent unadvisedly or wrongfully issued. Bohall v. Dilla, 114 U. S. 47; S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 782; Sparks v. Pierce, 115 U. S. 47; S. C. 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 102.

If, now, we apply these doctrines, which have been settled by repeated decisions, the case before us will be readily disposed of. The plaintiff below, Enos Johnson, on the seventeenth of April, 1875, entered the land in controversy, situated in Emmet county, Michigan, under the homestead laws, Previously, and for many years, he had resided in Kent county, in that state. distant several miles from the land. After the entry he resided upon the land only occasionally, offering as an excuse that the health of his wife required him to remain at 'their home in Kent county.' At the outset he employed his son-in-law, Shaeffer, and family, to go upon the land and remain there in his employ until his wife's health should so improve as to admit of his leaving her or taking her with him in his personal settlement upon the land. It would seem that afterwards some attempts were ostensibly made towards such a personal settlement, but they were at long intervals apart and for comparatively short periods. During these attempts Shaeffer and his family remained on the land, cultivating and improving it. More than a year after his entry Johnson, while living at the old home, voted in Kent county. It appears, also, that in June, 1876, at one of periods, as is alleged, during which Johnson resided with his wife on the land, Lee complained at the land-office that Johnson had abandoned the land for more than six months prior to that date; that a contest was thereupon initiated between Johnson and Lee for the right to the land; that the usual proceedings in such cases were had before the register, by whom testimony was taken, and forwarded to the commissioner of the general land-office. The commissioner decided in favor of Johnson, but, on appeal, the decision was reversed by the secretary of the interior, and the entry ordered to be canceled. The land was then subject to a new entry, and Lee entered it under the homestead laws,...