State of Louisiana v. James Rudolph Garfield

Decision Date09 November 1908
Docket NumberNo. 7,O,7
Citation29 S.Ct. 31,53 L.Ed. 92,211 U.S. 70
PartiesSTATE OF LOUISIANA, Complainant, v. JAMES RUDOLPH GARFIELD, Secretary of the Interior of the United States, and Fred Dennett, Commissioner of the General Land Office. riginal
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Attornel General Bonaparte, Solicitor General Hoyt, and Mr. Glenn E. Husted for defendants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 70-72 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Harvey M. Friend, George H. Lamar, and Walter Guion for complainant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 72-74 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a bill brought in this court to extablish the title of the state of Louisiana to certain swamp lands which it claims under the statutes of the United States, and to enjoin the defendants against carrying out an order making a different disposition of the lands. The defendants demur on the grounds that this really is a suit against the United States, which has not consented to be sued, that the title never has passed from the United States, and that the remedy, if any, would be at law.

The act of March 2, 1849, chap. 87, 9 Stat. at L. 352, purported to grant to the state of Louisiana the whole of the swamp and overflowed lands therein, and provided that, on approval of a list of such lands by the Secretary of the Treasury (afterwards succeeded by the Secretary of the Interior), the fee simple to the same should vest in the state. Certain lands were ex- cluded, but those in dispute were not by any express words. They belonged, however, to the Fort Sabine Military Reservation, established by the President on December 20, 1838, and although included in a list submitted under the statute, approval of the inclusion was suspended or denied. On March 25, 1871, the Fort Sabine Military Reservation was abandoned by Executive order, in pursuance of the act of February 24, 1871, chap. 68, 16 Stat. at L. 430, which authorized the Secretary of War to transfer it to the control of the Secretary of the Interior, to be sold for cash. On October 31, 1895, the Secretary of the Interior decided that the land was included in the grant of the act of 1849, subject to the right of the United States to use it for military purposes until abandoned. On December 10, 1895, pursuant to his decision, the Secretary indorsed upon a list of these lands that it was 'approved to the state of Louisiana under the act of Congress of March 2, 1849, as supplemented and enlarged by the act of Congress of September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. at L. 519, chap. 84), subject to any valid adverse rights that may exist.' The plaintiff says that thereupon the title passed.

On June 6, 1904, the Secretary of the Interior ordered that his predecessor's approval of the list be vacated, and that the lands should be held for disposition as provided by law, on the ground that they were not within the grant of the act of 1849, because at that time embraced in a military reservation. This decision has been upheld and finally affirmed by the present Secretary, the defendant in this case, and the result is the bringing of this bill.

We will assume, for purposes of decision, that, if the United States clearly had no title to the land in controversy, we should have jurisdiction to entertain this suit, for we are of opinion that, even on that assumption, the bill must be dismissed. But before giving the reasons for our opinion, the course taken by the argument for the United States makes it proper to state a portion of that argument that does not command our assent.

The next year after the act of 1849, another act was passed which granted swamp lands to the state of Arkansas. It provided for a list, required the Secretary of the Interior to issue a patent for the lands at the request of the governor, and then enacted that, 'on that patent,' the fee simple to the lands should vest in the state. The 4th section was more general: 'That the provisions of this act be extended to, and their benefits be conferred upon, each of the other states of the Union in which such swamp and overflowed lands, known as designated as aforesaid, may be situated.' Act of September 28, 1850, chap. 84, 9 Stat. at L. 519. It is argued that this so far repealed the special act of 1849 that thereafter the title would not pass on simple approval, as provided therein, but a...

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