Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/214/15/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 08:03:51+00:00

Document:
Where a decision of the Land Department rests on the priority of equitable rights of a contestant it is conclusive upon the courts so far as it involves questions of fact, and on a mixed question of law and fact it is conclusive unless the court can so separate the question that the mistake of law is clearly apparent.
Where the controversy in the Land Department involves the question of whether the first occupant occupied the land for homestead or townsite entry, and there is evidence to support the Secretary's finding, that finding is conclusive on the courts even though the evidence be conflicting.
"Northwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter and Lots five (5), six (6), and seven (7), of Section two (2), Township fifty-five (55) North of Range two (2) East, Boise Meridian."
for the detention. On appeal to the supreme court of the state, the award of damages was set aside, but the judgment for the recovery of possession was affirmed. Thereupon the case was brought here on error.
The plaintiffs' title was a patent from the United States to plaintiff John E. White, based upon a homestead entry. The defendants claimed to have been occupants of the premises as a townsite, and that therefore the land was not subject to entry as a homestead. The application for the homestead entry was formally made at the land office a few hours before that of the probate judge of the county, acting under the statutes as trustee for the occupants of the townsite. A contest was had in the local land office, which resulted in a finding in favor of the plaintiff John E. White. This decision was sustained by the Commissioner of the General Land Office and affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior.
The decision of the Land Department was not rested solely upon the fact that White's formal application was filed a few hours before that of the trustee for the occupants of the townsite, but rather chiefly upon the priority of the former's equitable rights. So far as such decision involves questions of fact, it is conclusive upon the courts. Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall. 72, 80 U. S. 86; Shepley v. Cowan, 91 U. S. 330, 91 U. S. 340; Marquez v. Frisbie, 101 U. S. 473, 101 U. S. 476; Quinby v. Conlan, 104 U. S. 420, 104 U. S. 425-426; Burfenning v. C., St. P.M. & O. Ry., 163 U. S. 321, 163 U. S. 323; De Cambra v. Rogers, 186 U. S. 119, 186 U. S. 120.
"This means, and it is a sound principle, that, where there is a mixed question of law and of fact, and the court cannot so separate it as to see clearly where the mistake of law is, the decision of the tribunal to which the law has confided the matter is conclusive."
Quinby v. Conlan, supra, 104 U. S. 426.
"38. That the officers of the Interior Department did not exclude any testimony, and there was in said Land Office and said Department a full, fair, and complete hearing."
"39. That the officers of said Interior Department, of said Land Office, or any or either of them, were not guilty of any fraud or any unlawful conduct."
Clearly the findings of the Land Department cannot be disregarded, especially since they are reinforced by the judgment of the state courts. This Court ought not to reverse such judgment except upon the clearest and most convincing evidence of mistake or injustice.
"In the case at bar, at the time of the survey in the field, White was the only settler on this subdivision except Whitcomb, the other parties at that time being located on the right of way, and as to them, White's right, as a prior settler, attached to the entire tract from such time. Any right Whitcomb may have had as a homestead settler by reason of his settlement before survey in the field is lost by his failure to assert the same under the homestead law."
White made claim to the entire tract and exercised rights of ownership over the same. It was necessary for him to adjust his settlement claim to the lines of the public survey, and, in so doing, to include the legal subdivision on which his improvements were placed."
Notwithstanding some conflict in the testimony, there was abundant to support the findings of the Secretary of the Interior, and, as heretofore stated, such findings of facts are to be regarded as conclusive in any controversy in the courts.

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