Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

United States v. Stone

69 U.S. (2 Wall.) 525

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1865-01-18
Topic
bankruptcy

Mr. Justice GRIEB, delivered the opinion'of the court- A patent is the highest evidence of title, and is conclusive as against the Government, and all claiming under junior patents or titles, until it is set aside or annulled by some judicial tribunal. In England this was originally done by scire facias, but a bill in chancery is found a. more convenient remedy. Nor is fraud in the patentee the only ground upon which a bill will be sustained. Patents are sometimes issued unadvisedly or by mistake, where the officer has no authority in law to grant them, or where another party has a higher equity and should have received the patent.

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed United States v. Stone. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Cited by
125 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Remedies — Suits by the United States to Cancel Patents The United States may proceed by bill in equity to obtain a judicial decree of nullity and an order of cancellation of a patent issued by itself, ignorantly or by mistake, for lands reserved from sale by law, where the grant by patent was therefore void. 69 U.S. 525 (1864)
  2. Environmental Law — Patents as Evidence of Title A patent is the highest evidence of title and is conclusive as against the Government and all claiming under junior patents or titles until it is set aside or annulled by some judicial tribunal; a bill in chancery is a more convenient remedy for that purpose than a writ of scire facias. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  3. Environmental Law — Grounds for Annulling Patents Fraud in the patentee is not the only ground upon which a bill to annul a patent will be sustained; patents are sometimes issued unadvisedly or by mistake, where the officer had no authority in law to grant them, or where another party has a higher equity and should have received the patent, and in such cases courts will pronounce them void. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  4. Environmental Law — Ministerial Act of Issuing Patent A patent is but evidence of a grant, and the officer who issues it acts ministerially and not judicially; if he issues a patent for land reserved from sale by law, the patent is void for want of authority. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  5. Environmental Law — Cancellation of Patents by Officers One officer of the land office is not competent to cancel or annul the act of his predecessor; that is a judicial act and requires the judgment of a court. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  6. International Law — Boundaries of Indian Grants Where a grant to an Indian tribe calls for a military camp as a boundary, the camp and its appurtenances are not included in the grant; what lands properly belonged to the military post and the proper curtilage necessary for its use and enjoyment, not being fixed with precision in the general description of the land granted, can be ascertained only by a survey on the ground. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  7. Real Property Law — Acquiescence in Surveyed Line Where a boundary has been surveyed in the presence of the parties, marked on the ground, and both parties have held possession and claimed up to the lines established by the survey for over thirty years, the boundary cannot be made the subject of dispute by reference to courses and distances called for in the patents, or on some newly discovered construction of their title deeds, notwithstanding the absence or loss of a document required by a Senate resolution to formalize the survey. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  8. Environmental Law — Military Reservations The President, acting through the Secretary of War and his officers, has authority to have posts and forts established, with a proper quantity of ground appropriated for the use of each reserved from sale. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J. (citing Wilcox v. Jackson)
  9. Environmental Law — Authority of Secretary of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior transcends his authority when he attempts to overrule the acts of his predecessors by ordering surveys to be made north of an established boundary line to include land previously reserved for military purposes. 69 U.S. 525, opinion of Grier, J.
  10. International Law — Location of Indian Grants The treaty of May 30, 1860, between the United States and the Delaware Indians conferred a right to locate grants only on that portion of the Delawares' lands reserved for their "permanent home" by the treaty of May 6, 1854, and did not authorize their location on that portion of those lands which, by that treaty, were to be sold for their uses. 69 U.S. 525 (syllabus; opinion of Grier, J.)