Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/173/464/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:50:35+00:00

Document:
After the hearing of the former appeal in this case, 170 U. S. 170 U.S. 1, and after the decree of this Court determining the rights of the parties and remanding the case to the Court of Claims with instructions to enter a new judgment for the net amount actually received by the government for the Kansas lands, without interest, less the amount of lands upon the basis of which settlement was made with the Tonawandas, and other just deductions, etc., and after the Court of Claims had complied with this mandate in accordance with its terms, a motion on the part of the United States to this Court to direct the Court of Claims to find further facts comes too late.
As the judgment of the Court of Claims now appealed from was in exact accordance with the mandate of this Court, the appeal from it is dismissed.
This case arose from a motion by the Indians to dismiss the appeal of the United States for want of jurisdiction, or, in the alternative, to affirm the judgment of the Court of Claims upon the ground that the question involved is so frivolous as not to need further argument, and also from a counter-motion by the United States for an order upon the Court of Claims to make a further finding of facts.
By an Act of Congress passed January 28, 1893, c. 52, 27 Stat. 426, the Court of Claims was authorized to hear and determine, and to enter up judgment upon, the claims of the Indians "who were parties to the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, New York," of January 15, 1838, to enforce an alleged liability of the United States for the value of certain lands in Kansas set apart for these Indians and subsequently sold by the United States, as well as for certain amounts of money agreed to be paid upon their removal.
"the New York Indians, being those Indians who were parties to the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, New York, on the 15th of January, 1838, were the following: Senecas, Onondagas, Onondagas residing on the Seneca reservation, Onondagas at Onondaga, Cayugas, Cayugas residing on the Seneca reservation, Cayuga Indians residing in the State of New York, Tuscaroras, Tuscaroras residing in the State of New York, Oneidas residing in New York at Green Bay (Wisconsin), and in the Seneca reservation, Oneidas, St. Regis, St. Regis in New York (the American party of the St. Regis resided in the State of New York), Stockbridges, Munsees, Brothertowns."
1. That the title acquired by the Indians under the treaty was a grant in praesenti of a legal title to a defined tract, described by metes and bounds, containing 1,824,000 acres, in the now State of Kansas.
2. That there was no uncertainty as to the land granted, or as to the identity of the grantees.
residing in the State of New York, as found in the first finding of fact by the Court of Claims.
4. That the grant to the Indians was of the entire tract, as specified in article two of the treaty, and not an allotment to them of 320 acres for each emigrant.
5. That the government had received the full consideration stipulated by the treaty, so far as such consideration was a valuable one for the Kansas lands, and had neglected to render any account of the same.
6. That the Indians had neither forfeited nor abandoned their interest in the Kansas lands, and that they were entitled to a judgment.
"to enter a new judgment for the net amount actually received by the government for the Kansas lands, without interest, less any increase in value attributable to the fact that certain of these lands were donated for public purposes, as well as the net amount which the court below may find could have been obtained for the lands otherwise disposed of, if they had all been sold as public lands, less the amount of land upon the basis of which settlement was made with the Tonawandas, and less 10,240 acres allotted to the thirty-two New York Indians, as set forth in finding 12, together with such deductions as may seem to the court below to the just, and for such other proceedings as may be necessary and in conformity with this opinion."
"First. What constituted the Onondagas at Onondaga, Oneidas at Green Bay, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns, parties to the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, as proclaimed April 4, 1840?"
New York when the Treaty of Buffalo Creek was proclaimed, or when they became parties thereto."
"the following articles of a treaty are entered into between the United States of America and the several tribes of the New York Indians, the names of whose chiefs, headmen, and warriors are hereto subscribed, and those who may hereafter assent to this treaty, in writing, within such time as the President shall appoint."
"it is understood and agreed that the above described country [the land ceded] is intended a a future home for the following tribes, to-wit, the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regis, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns residing in the State of New York, and the same is to be divided equally among them according to their respective numbers, as mentioned in the schedule hereunto annexed."
"To the Senate of the United States: I transmit a treaty negotiated with the New York Indians which was submitted to your body in June last, and amended."
"The amendments have, in pursuance of the requirement of the Senate, been submitted to each of the tribes assembled in council for their free and voluntary assent or dissent thereto. In respect to all the tribes, except the Senecas, the result of this application has been entirely satisfactory. It will be seen by the accompanying papers that of this tribe, the most important of those concerned, the assent of forty-two out of eighty-one chiefs has been obtained. I deem it advisable under the circumstances to submit the treaty in its modified form to the Senate for its advice in regard of the sufficiency of the assent of the Senecas to the amendment proposed."
ratified by the proper authorities of the government, becomes the supreme law of the land, and the courts can no more go behind it for the purpose of annulling its effect and operation than they can behind an act of Congress."
First. What constituted the Onondagas at Onondaga, Oneidas at Green Bay, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns parties to the Treaty of Buffalo Creek, as proclaimed April 4, 1840?
"We think, therefore, that upon principle, every existing claim which the party has omitted to make at the hearing upon the merits, and before the final decree, is to be considered as waived by him, and is not to be entertained in any future proceedings, and when a decree has been made which is in its own terms absolute, it is to be carried into effect according to those terms, and excludes all inquiry between the litigating parties as to liens or claims which might have been attached to it by the court if they had been previously brought to its notice."
See also Hickman v. Fort Scott, 141 U. S. 415.
never assented to the treaty, the grant should be reduced in the proportion of 320 acres to each member of these tribes. But this is an indirect attack upon the decree. The case was remanded to the Court of Claims not to determine who were actually parties to the treaty, or to recompute the number of souls, or in any other way to reduce the extent of the grant, but to render a judgment for the amount received by the government for the Kansas lands, less an amount of lands upon the basis of which settlement had been made with the Tonawandas, and less the 10,240 acres allowed to 32 New York Indians, "together with such other deductions as may seem to the court below to be just." But there is nothing to indicate that the Court of Claims was at liberty to redetermine who were parties to the treaty and entitled to the benefit of its provisions. That question had already been settled beyond recall. The motion for additional findings must therefore be denied.
Wall. 253; The Lady Pike, 96 U. S. 461; Supervisors v. Kenicott, 94 U. S. 498; Stewart v. Salamon, 97 U. S. 361.
"An appeal will not be entertained by this Court from a decree entered in a circuit or other inferior court in exact accordance with our mandate upon a previous appeal. Such a decree, when entered, is in effect our decree, and the appeal would be from ourselves to ourselves. If such an appeal is taken, however, we will, upon the application of the appellee, examine the decree entered, and, if it conforms to the mandate, dismiss the case, with costs. If it does not, the case will be remanded, with proper directions for the correction of the error. The same rule applies to writs of error."
Humphrey v. Baker, 103 U. S. 736; Clark v. Keith, 106 U. S. 464; Mackall v. Richards, 116 U. S. 45.
"Assuming that the claimants were entitled to 1,824,000 acres of land under the Treaty of January 15, 1838, the court finds that, of these lands, the defendants sold 84,453.29 acres, for which they received the sum of $1.25 per acre. They otherwise disposed of the balance of said lands in granting the same for public purposes, and for the lands disposed of for public purposes they could have obtained the sum of $1.25 per acre."
"The land at $1.25 per acre amounts to the sum of $2,280,000. The court, in finding that the defendants could have sold the land at $1.25, does not take into consideration any increased value given to such lands because of any donation of land for public purposes, and the court finds that the price at which the defendants sold the land was not increased because of any donation of other lands for public purposes. The court finds that the cost and expense of surveying and platting said lands was the sum of $45,000. The court finds that the number of acres allowed the Tonawanda band of the claimants in the settlement of their claim was 208,000 acres, which, at the price of $1.25 per acre, less the proportionate cost and expense of surveying and platting, amounts to the sum of $254,800. The number of acres allotted to the 32 Indians, as set forth in finding 12, was 10,340 acres, which, at the rate of $1.25 per acre, less the proportionate cost and expense of surveying and platting, amounts to $12,544."
The court further finds that, after deducting the costs and expense of surveying and platting said lands, the amount paid by the defendants in the settlement with the Tonawanda band, and the value of the allotment to the 32 Indians, there remains of said $2,280,000 the sum of $1,967,056.

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