United States v. James Stinson

• Decision Date: 13 March 1905
• Docket Number: No. 153,153
• Citation: 197 U.S. 200,49 L.Ed. 724,25 S.Ct. 426
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Appt. , v. JAMES STINSON and Henry J. Stinson, and Michael S. Bright, as Receiver of James Stinson
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

197 U.S. 200

25 S.Ct. 426

49 L.Ed. 724

UNITED STATES, Appt.,

v JAMES STINSON and Henry J. Stinson, and Michael S. Bright, as Receiver of James Stinson.

No. 153.

Argued January 25, 26, 1905.

Decided March 13, 1905.

This suit was commenced in the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Wisconsin, on February 25, 1895, to set aside the patents for fourteen quarter sections of land, charged to have been fraudulently acquired by the defendant James Stinson. The lands were entered under the pre-emption laws, in 1854-55, by different individuals, and immediately thereafter conveyed by them to James Stinson. The government, as admitted, received $1.25 per acre, the statutory price for lands so entered. The frauds charged are that the entrymen did not occupy and improve the lands as required by law, and did not enter them for their own benefit, but were employed by James Stinson to make the entries; that he paid the purchase price to the government, and also paid the entrymen for their services, and thus, in defiance of the provisions of the statutes, obtained title to the lands. James Stinson, in his answer, under oath, denied specifically the alleged frauds. Quite a volume of testimony was taken. Upon this the circuit court found that it was not true, as alleged, that James Stinson had been guilty of fraud in obtaining the title to the lands and dismissed the bill. This dismissal was affirmed by the circuit court of appeals (60 C. C. A. 615, 125 Fed. 907), from whose decree the United States appealed to this court.

Messrs. Marsden C. Burch, John B. [202]

Simmons, and Solicitor General Hoyt for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 202-203 intentionally omitted] Messrs. R. M. Bashford, John O. Spooner, A. L. Sanborn,

[Argument of Counsel from Pages 203-204 intentionally omitted] William E. Church, Robert McMurdy, and Roger Sherman for appellees.

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:

While the government, like an individual, may maintain any appropriate action to set aside its grants and recover property of which it has been defrauded, and while laches or limitation do not of themselves constitute a distinct defense as against it, yet certain propositions in respect to such an action have been fully established. First, the respect due to a patent,—the presumption that all the preceding steps required by law have been observed before its issue. The immense importance and necessity of the stability of titles depending upon these official instruments demand that suits to set aside and annul them should be sustained only when the allegations on which this is attempted are clearly stated and fully sustained by proof. Maxwell Land-Grant Case (United States v. Maxwell Land-Grant Co.), 121 U. S. 325, 30 L. ed. 949, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1015; Colorado Coal & I. Co. v. United States, 123 U. S. 307, 31 L. ed. 182, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 131; United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co. 125 U. S. 273, 31 L. ed. 747, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 850; United States v. Des Moines Nov. & R. Co. 142 U. S. 510, 35 L. ed. 1099, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 308; United States v. Budd, 144 U. S. 154, 36 L. ed. 384, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 575; United States v. American Bell Teleph. Co. 167 U. S. 224, 42 L. ed. 144, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 809.

Second. The government is subjected to the same rules respecting the burden of proof, the quantity and character of evidence, the presumptions of law and fact, that attend the prosecution of a like action by an individual. 'It should be well understood that only that class of evidence which commands respect, and that amount of it which produces conviction, shall make such an attempt successful.' Maxwell Land-Grant Case (United States v. Maxwell Land-Grant Co.), 121 U. S. 325, 381, 30 L. ed. 949, 959, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1015;United States v. Iron Silver Min. Co. 128 U. S. 673, 677, 32 L. ed. 571, 573, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 195; United States v. Des Moines Nav. & R. Co. 142 U. S. 510, 541, 35 L. ed. 1099, 1108, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 308.

Third. It is a good defense to an action to set aside a patent that the title has passed to a bona fide purchaser, for value, without notice. And, generally speaking, equity will not simply consider the question whether the title has been fraudulently obtained from the government, but also will protect the rights and interests of innocent parties. United States v. Burlington & M. River R. Co. 98 U. S. 334, 342, 25 L. ed. 198, 200. Colorado Coul & I. Co. v. United States, 123 U. S. 307, 313, 31 L. ed. 182, 185, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 131,—a case in which, as here, suit was brought to set aside land patents on the ground that they had been obtained by fraud, and in which we said:

'But it is not such a fraud as prevents the passing of the legal title by the patents. It follows that, to a bill in equity to cancel the patents upon these grounds alone, the defense of a bona fide purchaser for value, without notice, is perfect.' United States v. Marshall Silver Min. Co. 128 U. S....