Vicksburg Co v. Smith

• Decision Date: 21 April 1890
• Citation: 135 U.S. 195,10 S.Ct. 728,34 L.Ed. 95
• Parties: VICKSBURG, S. & P. R. CO. v. SMITH et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

135 U.S. 195

10 S.Ct. 728

34 L.Ed. 95

VICKSBURG, S. & P. R. CO. v. SMITH et al.

April 21, 1890.

Edward Colston, Geo. Hoadly, and E. M. Johnson, for plaintiff in error.

A. H. Leonard, A. J. Falls, and S. F. Phillips, for defendants in error.

BLATCHFORD, J.

This is an action at law, brought in the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Louisiana, by Robert N. Smith, Elizabeth A. Smith, (wife of Marine Duvall, joined, authorized, and assisted by her husband,) William L. Smith, Elizabeth W. Smith, (widow of James F. Smith,) citizens of Kentucky, and John S. Smith, a citizen of Colorado, as legal heirs of William W. Smith, deceased, against George A. Turner, a citizen of Louisiana. The petition avers that the state of Louisiana, on the 14th of May, 1853, sold to William W. Smith a certain tract of land known as 'Silver Lake,' situated in section 31, township 18, ranges 13 and 14, in the parish of Caddo, in the state of Louisiana, containing an area of 186.57 acres, at the maximum price of $1.25 per acre, which at the same time was paid into the treasury of the state by said Smith; that after that sale, and on the 24th of February, 1855, the state issued a patent for said tract of land to Smith; that it acquired said tract as swamp and overflowed land, granted to it by the acts of congress of 1849 and 1850, and sold the land to Smith as swamp and overflowed land; that all sales of land in Louisiana, claimed by the state as swamp and overflowed lands, whether made by the United States or by the state, and whether the land sold was of that character or not, were confirmed by the act of congress of March 2, 1855, entited 'An act for the relief of purchasers and locators of swamp and overflowed lands;' that the act of 1855 was extended to sales made after its passage, and was continued in force, by the act of March 3, 1857, to confirm all selections of swamp and overflowed lands by the several states under the acts of 1849 and 1850; that the act of 1855 confirmed the title of Smith to the tract of land known as 'Silver Lake,' whether it belonged to the state under the swamp-land acts of congress, or whether it belonged to the United States; that Smith acquired a title to the land, both from the state and the United States, by purchase and by confirmation by act of congress; that that title is paramount to all subsequent claims from the government, and is indefeasible under the act of confirmation of March 2, 1855; that the plaintiffs are the owners of the tract of land known as 'Silver Lake,' which is illegally withheld from them, and a part of it, containing 40 acres or more, is in the possession of George A. Turner, a citizen of Louisiana, who refuses to deliver to the plaintiffs that part of the land; and that the part in the possession of Turner is worth at least $600. The prayer of the petition is for a citation to Turner, and for judgment for the recovery of said tract of land in his possession, with its revenues from judicial demand. Turner was served with a citation, and put in an answer alleging that he was in the possession of a portion of the property described in the petition, as a tenant of the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railroad Company, and praying that his said lessor and the owner of the property be made defendant, and he be discharged. An order was made by the court that the company be made a defendant in his place, and a citation was issued to it, with which its president was duly served. It was a Louisiana corporation.

The company first filed an exception to the capacity of the plaintiffs to sue, on the ground that they were not the legal heirs of Smith, and, if they were, were not his sole heirs. This exception was tried and overruled. A plea and exception of res adjudicata to the...