United States v. State of Louisiana

• Decision Date: 23 April 1888
• Citation: 32 L.Ed. 66,127 U.S. 182,8 S.Ct. 1047
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. STATE OF LOUISIANA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

8 S.Ct. 1047

127 U.S. 182

32 L.Ed. 66

UNITED STATES v. STATE OF LOUISIANA.

April 23, 1888.

Atty. Gen. Garland and Heber J. May, for the United States.

Wm. E. Earle and Jos. L. Pugh, Jr., for the State of Louisiana.

BLATCHFORD, J.

This is an appeal by the United States from a judgment of the court of claims, awarding to the state of Louisiana the sum of $43,572.71. There are claims of two kinds involved in the suit. The first claim arises under act Feb. 20, 1811, c. 21, (2 St. 641,) which authorized the inhabitants of Louisiana to form a constitution and a state government. The fifth section of that act provided as follows: 'That five per centum of the net proceeds of the sales of the lands of the United States, after the first day of January, shall be applied to laying out and constructing public roads and levees in the said state, as the legislature thereof may direct.' The second claim arises under sections 1, 2, 4, act Sept. 28, 1850, c. 84, (9 St. 519,) and sections 1, 2, act March 2, 1855, c. 147, (10 St. 634.) Sections 1, 2, and 4 of the act of 1850 read as follows: 'That to enable the state of Arkansas to construct the necessary levees and drains to reclaim the swamp and overflowed lands therein, the whole of those swamp and overflowed lands, made unfit thereby for cultivation, which shall remain unsold at the passage of this act, shall be, and the same are hereby, granted to said state. Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of the secretary of the interior, as soo as may be practicable after the paseage of this act, to make out an accurate list and plats of the lands described as aforesaid, and transmit the same to the governor of the state of Arkansas, and, at the request of said governor, cause a patent to be issued to the state therefor; and on that patent, the fee-simple to said lands shall vest in the said state of Arkansas, subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof: provided, however, that the proceeds of said lands, whether from sale or by direct appropriation in kind, shall be applied exclusively, as far as necessary, to the purpose of reclaiming said lands by means of the levees and drains aforesaid.' 'Sec. 4. 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 and designated as aforesaid, may be situated.' Section 1 of the act of 1855 provided that the president should cause patents to be issued to purchasers or locators who had made entries of public lands claimed as swamp lands, prior to the issue of patents to the state, as provided for by section 2 of the act of 1850, except in certain specified cases. Section 2 of the same act provided as follows: 'That upon due proof, by the authorized agent of the state or states, before the commissioner of the general landoffice, that any of the lands purchased were swamp lands, within the true intent and meaning of the act aforesaid, the purchase money shall be paid over to the said state or states.'

The state alleged, in its petitions in the court of claims, (for there were two suits, which were consolidated,) that the moneys due to it under the act of 1811, instead of being paid over to it by the United States, had been unlawfully credited upon certain bonds alleged to have been issued by the state, and claimed to be held by the United States as an investment of certain Indian trust funds; that, as to the acts of 1850 and 1855, moneys were due to the state thereunder, which had been legally ascertained and certified, but, instead of being paid over to the state, had been credited on bonds of the same kind; and that the sums referred to as being ascertained and found due to the state were trust funds, to be devoted to specific purposes, under the provisions of the acts granting them to the state.

The United States, in addition to a general traverse, put in a special plea of set-off, alleging that the state was indebted to the United States in the amount of interest which had accrued on bonds issued by the state and held by the United States. The court of claims found as facts (1) that of the 5 per cent. found as facts (1) that of the 5 per cent. act of 1811 there remains due from the United States to the state, as credited on the books of the treasury department, the following sums: May 8, 1879, $13,602.71; June 8, 1882, $63,47; February 7, 1884, $22,773.51; making a total of $36,439.69; and that of the swamp-land fund accruing to the state under the acts of 1850 and 1855 there remains due from the United States to the state, as credited on the books of the treasury department, the following sums: May 26, 1886, $3,803.02; September 9, 1886, $1,110; May 2, 1887, $1,730.41; May 4, 1887, $489.59; making a total of $7,133.02; (2) that the first comptroller of the treasury, at the dates stated in finding 1, admitted and certified the above sums to be due to the state on account of the 5 per cent. fund and the idemnity for swamp lands purchased by individuals within the state, but directed those amounts to be credited on moneys due the United States, as stated in finding 3; and that it does not appear that the state authorities had knowledge of this proceeding; (3) that the United States own coupon bonds issued by the state, amounting to $37,000, payable in 1894, known as the 'Indian Trust Bonds,' and also hold and own overdue coupons attached to those bonds, representing the interest from May 1, 1874, to November 1, 1887, amounting to $31,080. The court gave a judgment in favor of the claimant for the total of the two amounts of $36,439.69 and $7,133.02, namely, $43,572.71.

The contention of the United States in the court of claims was that, under section 1069 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that every claim against the United States, cognizable by that court, shall be forever barred unless the petition setting forth a statement thereof is filed in the court within six years after the claim first accrues, the court had no jurisdiction in respect to the sum of $13,602.71 credited on the books of the treasury department on the 8th of May, 1879, as a part of the 5 per cent. fund, because the first of the two petitions was not filed until February 1, 1887. Deducting this sum of $13,602.71 from the $43,572.71 would leave the sum of $29,970; and it was contended by the United States that the claim for this sum was more than covered by the set-off of the $31,080, due by the state on the coupons on the Indian trust bonds. The court of claims held that the two funds in question in the treasury of the United States were trust moneys, to be held for special purposes, at first by the United States, and by the state after a transfer to it; that the trust had not been disavowed or annulled by congress; that it became the duty of the executive officers of the United States, in charge of the funds, to hand them over to the state as a succeeding trustee; that the credit given to the state in the treasury department, on its indebtedness to the United States, for the amount of the coupons on the Indian trust bonds, was without authority of law; that, consequently, the funds were free from liability to the set-off; and that the claim of the state to the $13,602.71 was not barred by section 1069 of the Revised Statutes.

The provisions of the swamp-land act of 1850 have been before this court in several cases. In Emigrant Co. v. County of Wright, 97 U. S. 339, at October term, 1877, the state of Iowa had, by statute, granted the swamp lands to the counties of the state in which they might be found, with an injunction that the lands and their proceeds should be appropriated to reclaiming the swamp lands; and if, when this was accomplished, anything was left, to building roads and bridges over the same; and lastly, the remainder to be used in building roads and bridges in other parts of the county. By subsequent legislation of the state, the counties were authorized to depart from this injunction, and to use the lands for public buildings and internal improvements; but the assent of the majority of the voters of the county to such purpose was required. The state also authorized the sale of all the lands to any person or corporation by a written contract, to be in like manner submitted to the vote of the county; but the sale was to be subject to the proviso that the vendee should take the lands subject to all the provisions of the act of congress of 1850. Wright county, with the assent of a majority of the voters of the county, having contracted in writing with the emigrant company to sell to it all the swamp lands in the county, and the claim of the county for indemnity against the United States for swamp lands which had been sold by the United States, and having executed a deed of a quantity of the lands to the company, the county filed a bill in equity to set aside the contract and deed, and obtained a decree to that effect in the circuit court. In the opinion of this court, delivered by Mr. Justice MILLER, the proposition urged by the plaintiff in the suit was considered, namely, that the contract was void on its face, because it contemplated a diversion of the fund in violation of the original grant. As regarded that proposition, the court said: 'It is not necessary to decide it in this case, and we do not...