Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/92637/united-states-vs-morehead
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 17:11:41+00:00

Document:
A charge of perjury may be based upon a valid regulation of the Land Department requiring an affidavit if the oath be taken "before a competent tribunal, officer or person." United States v. Smull, 236 U. S. 405 .
The Land Department being expressly charged with the duty of enforcing the public land laws by appropriate regulations, its regulations in that regard, when duly promulgated, must be deemed valid if they are not unreasonable, inappropriate, or inconsistent with the acts of Congress.
homesteads under Rev.Stats. § 2304 et seq., to make oath in their declaratory statements that their claims are for their exclusive use and benefit, for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person, and that agents filing such statements have no right or interest, direct or indirect, in the filing thereof, is a valid regulation not adding to the conditions of the statute, but serving to effectuate its purpose.
The regulation of the Department providing that soldiers' declaratory statements, when filed by agent, may be executed before any officer having a seal and authorized to administer oaths generally, is appropriate and valid, and an oath to such a statement taken before a state notary or clerk of court pursuant to such regulation violates the federal perjury statute, if the statement is material and false.
and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person.
(2) That the agent has no right or interest, direct or indirect, in the filing of such declaratory statement.
The district court sustained a demurrer on the ground that the indictment did not charge a crime, holding that there was no law which required affidavits to soldiers' declaratory statements; that the Land Department was not authorized to exact them; that consequently no law "authorizes an oath to be administered" to such affidavits; and, as perjury is possible only when an oath is authorized to be administered, the procuring of these false oaths could not be subornation of perjury, nor an agreement to secure them a conspiracy to suborn perjury. The case comes here on writ of error under the Criminal Appeals Act (March 2, 1907, c. 2564, 34 Stat. 1246).
may be based upon a valid regulation of the General Land Office requiring an affidavit if the oath be taken "before a competent tribunal, officer, or person." United States v. Smull, 236 U. S. 405 . The question obviously arising here is whether the law authorized the oath to be administered. Another question -- whether it was administered by a competent tribunal, officer, or person -- was treated by both parties as requiring decision. Assuming without specially determining the occasion for passing upon the second question, we proceed to consider both.
1. Whether an affidavit may be required to a soldiers' homestead declaratory statement.
the homestead by filing a declaratory statement," "as well by an agent as in person." Thus, the soldier can be assured of the selection of an advantageous homestead before perfecting his plan for removing to his new home.
which have since remained in force and are embodied in substance in the regulation of October 11, 1910.
duly promulgated, the assertion of its invalidity must be predicated either upon its being inconsistent with the statutes or upon its being, in itself, unreasonable or inappropriate. That the requirement of the soldier's affidavit to the fact essential to the existence of any right of the applicant under the law is both reasonable and appropriate can scarcely be doubted. United States v. Smull, 236 U. S. 405 , 236 U. S. 411 ; United States v. Bailey, 9 Pet. 238. But defendant urges that the regulation is inconsistent with the statute, in that it adds to the requirements of the statute still another condition to be performed before the soldier can acquire his homestead, and hence is legislation, not regulation. But the regulation does not add a new requirement in exacting the affidavit, as in Williamson v. United States, 207 U. S. 425 , 207 U. S. 458 -462. It merely demands appropriate evidence that the proceeding is initiated -- as the statute requires it must be throughout conducted -- in good faith, for the single purpose of acquiring a homestead.
under the Coal Land Law, seems not to have been questioned. (Rev.Stats. §§ 2348, 2349; 1 L.D. 687, paragraphs 28, 33.) The regulation calling for an affidavit to a soldier's declaratory statement under the Homestead Law, unlike that considered in United States v. George, 228 U. S. 14 , is thus a regulation entirely consistent with the statutory provisions, and being also appropriate, is valid.
2. Whether state officers are authorized to administer the oath.
with law." Ever since the decision in United States v. Bailey, 9 Pet. 238, 34 U. S. 255 , it has been held that an oath administered by a state magistrate, in pursuance of a valid regulation of one of the departments of the federal government, though without express authority from Congress, subjects the affiant to the penalties of the federal statute against false swearing. See Caha v. United States, 152 U. S. 211 , 152 U. S. 218 .
The indictment charges a crime under the laws of the United States. Judgment of the district court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.
"The soldier's declaratory statement, if filed in person, must be accompanied by the prescribed evidence of military service and the oath of the person filing the same, stating his residence and post office address, and setting forth that the claim is made for his exclusive use and benefit for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, either directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of any other person; . . ."
"In case of filing a soldier's declaratory statement by agent, the oath must further declare the name and authority of the agent and the date of the power of attorney, or other instrument creating the agency, adding that the name of the agent was inserted therein before its execution. It should also state in terms that the agent has no right or interest, direct or indirect, in the filing of such declaratory statement."
"The agent must file (in addition to his power of attorney) his own oath to the effect that he has no interest, either present or prospective, direct or indirect, in the claim; that the same is filed for the sole benefit of the soldier, and that no arrangement has been made whereby said agent has been empowered at any future time to sell or relinquish such claim, either as agent or by filing an original relinquishment of the claimant."
"Where a soldier's declaratory statement is filed in person, the affidavit of the soldier or sailor must be sworn to before either the register or the receiver, or before a United States commissioner, or a United States court commissioner, or judge, or clerk of a court of record in the county or land district in which the land sought is situated. Where a declaratory statement is filed by an agent, the agent's affidavit must be executed before one of the officers above mentioned, but the soldier's affidavit may be executed before any officer having a seal and authorized to administer oaths generally, and not necessarily within the land district in which the land is situated."
"Every private soldier . . . who has served in the Army of the United States during the recent rebellion . . . shall . . . be entitled to enter upon and receive patents for a quantity of public lands not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres . . . subject to entry under the homestead laws of the United States; but such homestead settler shall be allowed six months after locating his homestead, and filing his declaratory statement, . . . to make his entry and commence his settlement and improvement."
The term "entry" is used in the statutes, regulations, and decisions in several senses, sometimes to designate the initiatory proceeding whereby an inchoate right or privilege is acquired, sometimes as referring to final entries or proof, sometimes as referring to the proceeding as a whole. Dealy v. United States, 152 U. S. 539 , 152 U. S. 545 ; Stearns v. United States, 152 F. 900, 907; United States v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co., 204 F. 485.
"Every soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or other person coming within the provisions of section twenty-three hundred and four, may, as well by an agent as in person, enter upon such homestead by filing a declaratory statement, as in preemption cases; but such claimant in person shall within the time prescribed make his actual entry, commence settlements and improvements on the same, and thereafter fulfil all the requirements of law."
" SOLDIERS' HOMESTEAD DECLARATORY STATEMENTS"
" Commissioner McFarland to registers and receivers, December 15, 1882: "
"In view of extensive frauds in the matter of declaratory statements of homestead applicants under §§ 2304 and 2309 of the Revised Statutes, the privilege conferred by the filing of such claims having been made the occasion of barter and sale, without attempt on the part of the soldier to comply with the statute by making formal entry at the district office, and commencement of settlement upon the land within the prescribed period of six months, the following regulations are prescribed for the admission of such filings:"
"1. Proof of qualification as an honorably discharged soldier must be furnished in accordance with existing regulations in case of entry by soldiers who make direct homestead application without availing themselves of the preliminary filing. Oath of the soldier, setting forth his residence and post office address, must accompany the filing, to the effect that the claim is made for his exclusive use and benefit, for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person, and it must also be shown by such oath that he has not theretofore either made a homestead entry or filed a declaratory statement under the homestead law."
"2. Where the declaratory statement is offered for filing by an agent under § 2309, the oath must further declare the name and authority of such agent, giving the date of the power of attorney or other instrument creating the agency, and also aver that the name was inserted therein before execution. It will be observed that, with the filing of the declaratory statement, the power of the agent, under the law, is at an end. He has thereafter no right or control with respect to the matter nor over the land selected, and has no authority to relinquish the claim or do any other act in the premises. The further declaration of the statute is express, that"
"such claimant in person shall within the time prescribed make his actual entry, commence settlements and improvements on the same, and thereafter to fulfil all the requirements of law."
"Nevertheless, the oath of the soldier and the power of attorney should show that such is the understanding of the matter, and he should swear in terms that such agent has no right or interest direct or indirect in the filing of such declaratory statement."
"The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the supervision of public business relating to the following subject: . . . The public lands, . . ."
"The Commissioner of the General Land Office shall perform, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands. . . ."
"The Commissioner of the General Land Office, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is authorized to enforce and carry into execution, by appropriate regulations, every part of the provisions of this title [Title xxxii -- The Public Lands] not otherwise specially provided for."
Rev.Stats. §§ 2246, 2290, 2294; Act of June 9, 1880, c. 164, 21 Stat. 169; Act of May 26, 1890, c. 355, 26 Stat. 121; Act of March 11, 1902, c. 182, 32 Stat. 63; Act of March 4, 1904, c. 394, 33 Stat. 59.

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