Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/159/491/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 00:30:31+00:00

Document:
United States, but, on the contrary, it continues to be the property of the United States for five years following the entry and until a patent is issued.
Where a citizen of the United States has made an entry upon the public lands of the United States under and in accordance with the homestead laws of the United States, which entry is in all respects regular, he may cut such timber as is necessary to clear the land for cultivation, or to build him a house, outbuildings, and fences, and perhaps may exchange such timber for lumber to be devoted to the same purposes; but he cannot sell the timber for money, except so far as it may have been cut for the purpose of cultivation, and in case he exceeds his rights in this respect, he may be held liable in a criminal prosecution under section 2461 or section 5388 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or either of said sections, for cutting and removing, after such homestead entry, and while the same is in full force, the standing trees and timber found and being on the land so entered as a homestead.
In holding that, as between the United States and a homestead settler, the land is to be deemed the property of the former, at least so far as is necessary to protect it from waste, the Court is not to be understood as expressing an opinion whether, as between the settler and the state, it may not be deemed to be the property of the settler, and therefore subject to taxation.
such timber was cut within four months after defendant had made his homestead entry; that the trees yielded an aggregate of the sum of $126, while the improvements made upon the land cost $229. The lumber put into the building amounted to 9,765 feet.
There was conflicting evidence as to the motives of the defendant in cutting and selling the timber. He claimed that the logs were exchanged for lumber and building material, all of which were put into his improvement, the government claiming that it was cut for the purpose of sale and profit.
The court instructed the jury that defendant had the right to cut timber on his homestead suitable and sufficient to build necessary and convenient houses, fences, etc., for a home, and to have that timber sawed into suitable lumber to make such improvements on his homestead; that he could have exchanged timber for lumber to make such improvements, but only so much as was necessary, and that if he only did this, and did it in good faith, he should be acquitted. On the contrary, that any cutting in excess of the lumber necessary to make his improvements would be unlawful, that he had no right to cut trees for the purpose of sale for profit, or to pay debts or loans of money, or to pay his expenses, or to buy supplies -- in short, he had no right to cut them for sale for any such purpose.
1. Whether lands duly and properly entered for a homestead under the homestead laws of the United States are from the time of entry, and pending proceedings before the Land Department, and until final disposition by that department, so appropriated for special purpose, and so segregated from the public domain, as to be no longer lands of the United States, within the purview and meaning of section 2461 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.
entry is in all respects regular, can such citizen he held liable in a criminal prosecution under section 2461 or section 5388 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, or either of said sections, for cutting and removing, after such homestead entry, and while the same is in full force, the standing trees and timber found and being on the land so entered as a homestead?
v. Sanger, 92 U. S. 761; Kansas Pacific Railroad v. Atchison &c. Railroad, 112 U. S. 414.
"There is nothing in the essential nature of these acts [entering upon lands for the purpose of preemption] to confer a vested right, or, indeed, any kind of claim to land, and it is necessary to resort to the preemption law to make out any shadow of such right."
"A mere entry upon land, with continued occupancy and improvement thereof, gives no vested interest in it. It may, however, give, under our national land system, a privilege of preemption. But this is only a privilege conferred on the settler to purchase lands in preference to others. . . . His settlement protects him from intrusion or purchase by others, but confers no right against the government."
trespass and waste in the destruction of timber or removal of ores which he might think proper to commit during his occupation of the premises."
"will faithfully and honestly endeavor to comply with all the requirements of law as to settlement, residence, and cultivation necessary to acquire title to the land applied for; that he or she is not acting as the agent of any person, corporation, or syndicate in making such entry, nor in collusion with any person, corporation, or syndicate to give them the benefit of the land entered, or any part thereof, or the timber thereon."
By § 2291, no patent shall issue until the expiration of five years from the date of the entry, the settler being required to prove by two credible witnesses that he has resided upon or cultivated the land for such term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit, and that no part of such land has been alienated, except for certain public purposes. By § 2297, if, before the expiration of the five years, the settler changes his residence or abandons the land for more than six months at any time, the lands so entered shall revert to the government, and by § 2301, the settler may at any time before the expiration of the five years obtain a patent for the lands by paying the minimum price therefor and making proof of settlement and cultivation, as provided by law, granting preemption rights.
From this resume of the Homestead Act it is evident first that the land entered continues to be the property of the United States for five years following the entry, and until a patent is issued; second that such property is subject to divestiture, upon proof of the continued residence of the settler upon the land for five years; third that, meantime, such settler has the right to treat the land as his own so far, and so far only, as is necessary to carry out the purposes of the act. The object of this legislation is to preserve the right of the actual settler, but not to open the door to manifest abuses of such right. Obviously the privilege of residing on the land for five years would be ineffectual if he had not also not right to build himself a house, outbuildings, and fences, and to clear the land for cultivation, and to that extent the act limits and modifies the act of 1831, now embraced in Rev.Stat. § 2461. It is equally clear that he is bound to act in good faith to the government, and that he has no right to pervert the law to dishonest purposes or to make use of the land for profit or speculation. The law contemplates the possibility of his abandoning it, but he may not in the meantime ruin its value to others who may wish to purchase or enter it.
"In the United States, whether cutting of any kind of trees in any particular case is waste seems to depend upon the question whether the act is such as a prudent farmer would do with his own land, having regard to the land as an inheritance, and whether doing it would diminish the value of the land as an estate."
"Questions of this kind have frequently arisen in those states where the lands are new and covered with forests, and where they cannot be cultivated until cleared of the timber. In such case, it seems to be lawful for the tenant to clear the land if it would be in conformity with good husbandry to do so, the question depending upon the custom of farmers, the situation of the country, and the value of the timber. . . .
Wood cut by a tenant in clearing the land belongs to him, and he may sell it, though he cannot cut the wood for purposes of sale; it is waste if he does."
government holding the title, with the rights of a remainder-man.
In the courts of original jurisdiction it has been uniformly held that a similar rule applied to homestead entries. United States v. McEntee, 23 Internal Revenue Record 368; United States v. Nelson, 5 Sawyer 68; The Timber Cases, 11 F. 81; United States v. Smith, 11 F. 493; United States v. Stores, 14 F. 824; United States v. Yoder, 18 F. 372; United States v. Williams, 18 F. 475; United States v. Lane, 19 F. 910; United States v. Freyberg, 32 F. 795; United States v. Murphy, 32 F. 376. This general consensus of opinion is entitled to great weight as authority.
While we hold in this case that, as between the United States and the settler, the land is to be deemed the property of the former at least so far as is necessary to protect it from waste, we do not wish to be understood as expressing an opinion whether, as between the settler and the state, it may not be deemed the property of the settler, and therefore subject to taxation. Carroll v. Safford, 3 How. 441; Witherspoon v. Duncan, 4 Wall. 210; Railway Co. v. Prescott, 16 Wall. 603; Railway Co. v. McShane, 22 Wall. 444; Wisconsin Central Railroad v. Price County, 133 U. S. 496.
The first question must be answered in the negative, and the second in the affirmative.

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 § 2291
 § 2297
 § 2301
 § 2461
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