State of Missouri v. State of Nebraska, State of Nebraska v. State of Missouri
Decision Date | 19 December 1904 |
Docket Number | No. 5,O,5 |
Citation | 49 L.Ed. 372,25 S.Ct. 155,196 U.S. 23 |
Parties | STATE OF MISSOURI v. STATE OF NEBRASKA, STATE OF NEBRASKA v. STATE OF MISSOURI. riginal |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This is a case of disputed boundary between two states of the Union.
The suit was commenced by an original bill filed in this court by the state of Missouri against the state of Nebraska. The relief sought by the former state is a decree declaring its right of possession of, and its jurisdiction and sovereignty over, certain territory east and north of the center of the main channel of the Missouri river as it runs between the two states at the present time; that Missouri be quieted in its title thereto; and that the state of Nebraska be forever enjoined and restrained from disturbing Missouri in the full enjoyment and possession of said territory.
The state of Nebraska, after answering, filed a cross bill asking a decree confirming the possession, jurisdiction, and sovereignty of Nebraska over said territory; that the boundary line between that part of Missouri known as Atchison county and that part of Nebraska known as Nemaha county, be ascertained and established, and permanent monuments erected to indicate the location of such line; and that the state of Missouri be enjoined and restrained from disturbing the state of Nebraska in the full enjoyment and possession of said territory.
The commissioners heretofore appointed to take the evidence have filed their report, and it is agreed that their finding of facts is correct. The case is before us upon questions of law arising out of the pleadings, the report of the commissioners, and the stipulation of the parties.
By an act of Congress of March 6th, 1820, provision was made for the admission of Missouri into the Union with the following boundary: 'Beginning in the middle of the Mississippi river, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees of north latitude; thence west, along that parallel of latitude, to the San Francois river; thence up and following the course of that river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the parallel of latitude of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thence west along the same to a point where the said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas river, where the same empties into the Missouri river; thence from the point aforesaid, north, along the said meridian line, to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines, making the said line to correspond with the Indian boundary line; thence east from the point of intersection last aforesaid, along the said parallel of latitude, to the middle of the channel of the main fork of the said river Des Moines; thence down and along the middle of the main channel of the said river Des Moines to the mouth of the same, where it empties into the Mississippi river; thence due east to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence down and following the course of the Mississippi river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place of beginning: Provided, That said state shall ratify the boundaries aforesaid: (a) And provided also, That the said state shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and every other river bordering on the said state, so far as the said river shall form a common boundary to the said state and any other state or states, now or hereafter to be formed and bounded by the same, such rivers to be common to both; and that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said state as to other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost, or toll therefor imposed by the said state.' 3 Stat. at L. 545, chap. 22.
On the 15th day of January, 1831, the state of Missouri, speaking by its legislature, memorialized Congress to make more certain and definite its northwest boundary. That memorial, among other things, stated:
A subsequent act, entitled 'An Act to Extend the Western Boundary of the State of Missouri to the Missouri River,' approved June 7th, 1836, provided: 'That when the Indian title to all the lands lying between the state of Missouri and the Missouri river shall be extinguished, the jurisdiction over said lands shall be hereby ceded to the state of Missouri, and the western boundary of said state shall be then extended to the Missouri river, reserving to the United States the original right of soil in said lands, and disposing of the same: Provided, That this act shall not take effect until the President shall, by proclamation, declare that the Indian title to said lands has been extinguished; nor shall it take effect until the state of Missouri shall have assented to the provisions of this act.' 5 Stat. at L. 34, chap. 86.
It is alleged in the bill that Congress intended by the act of 1836 to meet the...
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