Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/228/6/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 14:22:57+00:00

Document:
Until the legal title to public land passes from the government, inquiry as to all equitable rights comes within the cognizance of the Land Department. Brown v. Hitchock, 173 U. S. 473.
Until the matter is closed by final action, the proceedings of an officer of a department are as much open to review or reversal by himself or his successor as are the interlocutory decrees of a court open to review upon the final hearing. New Orleans v. Paine, 147 U. S. 261.
A decision of the Secretary of the Interior revoking his prior approval of an adjustment between contestants, one of whom is a minor, and which is not arbitrary or capricious, but given after a hearing and in the exercise of the discretion confided to him by law, cannot be reviewed, nor can he be compelled to retract it, by mandamus. Ness v. Fisher, 223 U. S. 683.
The power given by the Act of July 1, 1902, providing for allotment of Cherokee lands in severalty, to the Secretary of the Interior to decide between contestants, is not exhausted by a decision approving a settlement and directing deeds to be submitted to him for approval. Such a decision is interlocutory, and not final, and power still remained to reconsider and revoke.
The facts, which involve the construction of the Act of Congress allotting Cherokee lands in severalty and the power of the Secretary of the Interior thereunder to determine contests and to reconsider his decisions thereon, are stated in the opinion.
"Lands in Twist and Knight cases against Waters will be awarded to Twist and Knight, respectively, upon payment of $25,000 for use of minor Waters. Contestants given including 15th to make payment. . . . Prepare deeds to respective contestants and have them executed and forwarded here for approval. Report promptly by wire."
of the Cherokee Nation and were forwarded by the Commissioner to the Secretary for his approval.
Under the regulations governing the institution and disposition of contests over allotments, a party was accorded thirty days after a decision by the Secretary within which to apply for a rehearing. Within this period, the parents of Eva Waters, acting in her behalf, applied to the Secretary for a rehearing of the matter covered by his decision of May 10, 1909, it being asserted in that connection that her potential interest was worth much more than the sum named in the decision, and that her parents' consent to the adjustment had been grounded on inaccurate and misleading information. The application was entertained, and, after a hearing thereon in which Twist and Knight participated, the Secretary rendered a further decision vacating the former one and disapproving the proposed adjustment, on the ground that the consideration which the minor was to receive was not at all adequate. The Secretary also ruled that both contests should be considered and disposed of on their merits, and that the $25,000 should be returned. The money was not actually repaid, but this may have been because those who paid it were as yet unwilling to take it back. In consequence of his later decision, the Secretary declined to approve the patent executed by the principal chief or to permit them to be recorded or delivered.
Court of the District of Columbia for a writ of mandamus, as before indicated, to compel the Secretary of the Interior to deliver to him the patent for the 30 acres, and to perform any other acts necessary to clothe him with the full legal title.
"Until the legal title to public land passes from the government, inquiry as to all equitable rights comes within the cognizance of the Land Department. In United States v. Schurz, 102 U. S. 378, 102 U. S. 396, which was an application for a mandamus to compel the delivery of a patent, it was said:"
"Congress has also enacted a system of laws by which rights to these lands may be acquired, and the title of the government conveyed to the citizen. This Court has, with a strong hand, upheld the doctrine that, so long as the legal title to these lands remained in the United States, and the proceedings for acquiring it were as yet in fieri, the courts would not interfere to control the exercise of the power thus vested in that tribunal. To that doctrine we still adhere."
"We do not mean to say that cases may not arise in which a party is justified in coming into the courts of the District to assert his rights as against a proceeding in the Land Department, or when the Department refuses to act at all. United States v. Schurz, supra, and Noble v. Union River Logging Railroad Co., 147 U. S. 165, are illustrative of these exceptional cases."
more than the power of a court to determine legal and equitable rights permits action without notice to parties interested."
"But what we do affirm and reiterate is that power is vested in the Departments to determine all questions of equitable right or title, upon proper notice to the parties interested, and that the courts must, as a general rule, be resorted to only when the legal title has passed from the government."
"Until the matter is closed by final action, the proceedings of an officer of a Department are as much open to review or reversal by himself or his successor as are the interlocutory decrees of a court open to review upon the final hearing."
Inasmuch as the decision of the Secretary revoking his prior approval of the proposed adjustment was not arbitrary or capricious, but was given after a hearing, and in the exercise of a judgment and discretion confided to him by law, it cannot be reviewed, or he be compelled to retract it, by mandamus. Ness v. Fisher, 223 U. S. 683.
The decisions in Garfield v. United States, 211 U. S. 249, and Ballinger v. Frost, 216 U. S. 240, are not in conflict with the views here expressed. In the former, the writ was awarded to compel the respondent to erase and disregard an entry which he arbitrarily and without notice had caused to be made upon a public record, thereby beclouding the relator's right to an Indian allotment. In the latter, the writ was awarded to compel the delivery of a patent which was withheld solely through the unauthorized action of the Secretary in entertaining and sustaining a proceeding in the nature of a contest after the expiration of the time limited by statute for instituting such a proceeding.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.