Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/243/389/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:18:04+00:00

Document:
The power to regulate the use of the lands of the United States, and to prescribe the conditions upon which rights in them may be acquired by others, is vested exclusively in Congress.
power, and therefore such lands, within a state, or ways across them, are not subject to be occupied or used for private or quasi-public purposes, under state laws, save such laws as have been adopted or made applicable by Congress.
The Act of May 14, 1896, c. 179, 29 Stat. 120, relating exclusively to rights of way and the use of land for electric power purposes, covering the subject fully and specifically and containing new provisions, was evidently designed to be complete in itself, and therefore, by necessary implication, superseded the provisions of Rev.Stats., §§ 2339 and 2340 (derived from the Acts of 1866 and 1870), insofar as they were applicable to such rights of way.
The legislation embodied in Rev.Stats., §§ 2339 and 2340, granted rights of way for ditches, canals, and reservoirs only, and did not cover powerhouses, transmission lines, or subsidiary structures.
Sections 18-21 of the Act of March 3, 1891, c. 561, 26 Stat. 1095, relate to rights for ditches, canals, and reservoirs for the purpose of irrigation and call for the filing of maps, to be effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior; the Act of May 11, 1898, c. 292, 30 Stat. 404, permits the rights so approved under the Act of 1891 to be used for certain purposes, including power development, as subsidiary to the main purpose of irrigation; but neither act applies where no maps have been filed or approved, where the rights claimed include powerhouses, subsidiary buildings, and transmission lines, and where irrigation is neither the sole nor the main purpose of the use.
Whether or not the Act of February 15, 1901, c. 372, 31 Stat. 790, superseded other earlier right of way provisions, it obviously took the place of the Act of May 14, 1896, supra.
The Act of February l, 1905, c. 288, 33 Stat. 628, makes no provision for electric powerhouses, transmission lines or structures subsidiary thereto, the rights of way granted being only for ditches, canals, and reservoirs for diverting, storing, and carrying water.
The purposes for which rights of way may be obtained under the Act of February l, 1905, supra, viz., municipal or mining purposes and for milling and reduction of ores, do not include the generating of electricity for general commercial disposition, even though some part of the current is sold in adjacent or distant towns for power, lighting, and heating, or to persons engaged in mining, milling, or reducing ores.
in regard to an alleged agreement for the use of federal lands by a power company.
As a general rule, laches or neglect of duty on the part of government officers is no defense to a suit to enforce a public right or protect a public interest.
If this rule has exceptions, they in turn are limited by the principle which places on different planes an ordinary private suit over title and a suit maintained by the United States to enforce its policy respecting land held in trust for all the people. Causey v. United States, 240 U. S. 399, 240 U. S. 402. The discretion of Congress to control the use of federal lands through administrative regulations is not narrowly confined.
Where such regulations exceed the power of or authorization by Congress, they may be disregarded as void, but not so where they are merely illiberal, inequitable, or unwise.
Parties whose occupancy and use of federal lands can be legitimated only by complying with the Act of February 15, 1901, supra, may not be heard to complain of the regulations adopted in its execution until they seek a license or permit under the act and conform, or appropriately offer to conform, to all of the regulations which are lawful.
The acts of Congress providing or recognizing that rights to the use of water in streams running through public lands and reservations may be acquired in accordance with local laws do not authorize the appropriation of rights of way through lands of the United States.
In a suit by the United States to enjoin unlawful occupancy and use of its reserved lands, compensation measured by the reasonable value of the occupancy and use, considering its extent and duration, should be included in the decree.
The compensation should not be measured by the charges prescribed for like uses by governmental regulations when the regulations have not been accepted or assented to by the defendants.
to whoever has occasion to use it for power, lighting, or heating. In each case, some part of the works is on private lands, but much the greater part is on lands of the United States. Part was constructed before and part after the reservation was created, but all after 1896, and nearly all after 1901. The entire works are conducted in each instance as a commercial enterprise, and not as an incident to or in aid of any other business in which the defendant is engaged.
In occupying and using the government lands as sites for these works, the defendants have proceeded upon the assumption that they were entitled so to do without seeking or securing any grant or license from the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture under the legislation of Congress, and, in truth, they have neither applied for nor received such a grant of license from either. But, notwithstanding this, they assert that they have acquired and are invested with rights to occupy and use permanently, for the purposes indicated, the government lands upon which the works are located.
The principal object of the suits, as is said in one of the briefs, is to test the validity of these asserted rights, and, if they be found invalid, to require the defendants to conform to the legislation of Congress or, at their option, to remove from the government lands. The district court ruled against the defendants upon the main question, following a decision of the circuit court of appeals in another case, 209 F. 554, but refused the government's prayer for pecuniary relief. Cross-appeals were then taken directly to this Court.
its supremacy over state enactments sustained. Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Pet. 498, 38 U. S. 516; Jourdan v. Barrett, 4 How. 169, 45 U. S. 185; Gibson v. Chouteau, 13 Wall. 92, 80 U. S. 99; Camfield v. United States, 167 U. S. 518; Light v. United States, 220 U. S. 523, 220 U. S. 536-537. And so we are of opinion that the inclusion within a state of lands of the United States does not take from Congress the power to control their occupancy and use, to protect them from trespass and injury, and to prescribe the conditions upon which others may obtain rights in them, even though this may involve the exercise in some measure of what commonly is known as the police power. "A different rule," as was said in Camfield v. United States, supra, "would place the public domain of the United States completely at the mercy of state legislation."
It results that state laws, including those relating to the exercise of the power of eminent domain, have no bearing upon a controversy such as is here presented, save as they may have been adopted or made applicable by Congress.
"That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, authorized and empowered, under general regulations to be fixed by him, to permit the use of right of way to the extent of twenty-five feet, together with the use of necessary ground, not exceeding forty acres, upon the public lands and forest reservations of the United States, by any citizen or association of citizens of the United States, for the purpose of generating, manufacturing, or distributing electric power."
We regard it as plain that this act superseded §§ 2339 and 2340 insofar as they were applicable to such rights of way. It dealt specifically with that subject, covered it fully, embodied some new provisions, and evidently was designed to be complete in itself. That it contained no express mention of ditches, canals, and reservoirs is of no significance, for it was similarly silent respecting powerhouses, transmission lines, and subsidiary structures. What was done was to provide for all in a general way without naming any of them.
As the works in question were constructed after §§ 2339 and 2340 were thus superseded, the defendants' claims receive no support from those sections. No attempt was made to conform to the Act of 1896, and nothing is claimed under it.
and noted upon the public records when approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The second permits rights of way "approved" under the first to be used for certain additional purposes, including the development of power, "as subsidiary to the main purpose of irrigation." But here, no maps of location have been filed or approved, the rights of way are not claimed merely for ditches, canals, or reservoirs, and irrigation is neither the sole nor the main purpose for which any part of the asserted rights of way is used. So it is apparent that the reliance upon these acts is ill founded.
to its requirements and have not received any permission or license under it.
"The rights granted are described with particularity. The right of way for transmitting and distributing electrical power is not included expressly, nor is it so intimately related to any of the rights enumerated that a grant of the one must needs be implied as essential to the enjoyment of the other."
30 Ops.A.G. 263. We regard this as the correct view.
it is enough to say that the United States is neither bound nor estopped by acts of its officers or agents in entering into an arrangement or agreement to do or cause to be done what the law does not sanction or permit. Lee v. Munroe, 7 Cranch 366; Filor v. United States, 9 Wall. 45, 76 U. S. 49; Hart v. United States, 95 U. S. 316; Pine River Logging Co. v. United States, 186 U. S. 279, 186 U. S. 291.
As presenting another ground of estoppel, it is said that the agents in the forestry service and other officers and employees of the government, with knowledge of what the defendants were doing, not only did not object thereto, but impliedly acquiesced therein until after the works were completed and put in operation. This ground also must fail. As a general rule, laches or neglect of duty on the part of officers of the government is no defense to a suit by it to enforce a public right or protect a public interest. United States v. Kirkpatrick, 9 Wheat. 720, 22 U. S. 735; Steele v. United States, 113 U. S. 128, 113 U. S. 134; United States v. Beebe, 127 U. S. 338, 127 U. S. 334; United States v. Insley, 130 U. S. 263, 130 U. S. 265-266; United States v. Dalles Military Road Co., 140 U. S. 599, 140 U. S. 632; United States v. Michigan, 190 U. S. 379, 190 U. S. 405; State ex Rel. Lott v. Brewer, 64 Ala. 287, 298; People v. Brown, 67 Ill. 435, 438; Den v. Lunsford, 20 N.C. 542; Humphrey v. Queen, 2 Can.Exch. 386, 390; Queen v. Black, 6 Can.Exch. 236, 253. And, if it be assumed that the rule is subject to exceptions, we find nothing in the cases in hand which fairly can be said to take them out of it, as heretofore understood and applied in this Court. A suit by the United States to enforce and maintain its policy respecting lands which it holds in trust for all the people stands upon a different plane in this and some other respects from the ordinary private suit to regain the title to real property or to remove a cloud from it. Causey v. United States, 240 U. S. 399, 240 U. S. 402.
administrative regulations promulgated under the act of February 15, 1901, go beyond what is appropriate for the protection of the interest of the United States, and are unconstitutional, unauthorized, and unreasonable. The regulations occupy many printed pages, and the answers do not adequately show which regulations are assailed, or the grounds upon which the invalidity of particular ones is asserted. That Congress intends there shall be some administrative regulations on the subject is plainly shown in the act, and that its discretion in the matter is not narrowly confined is shown by our decisions in United States v. Grimaud, 220 U. S. 506, and Light v. United States, 220 U. S. 523. If any of the regulations go beyond what Congress can authorize, or beyond what it has authorized, those regulations are void and may be disregarded, but not so of such as are thought merely to be illiberal, inequitable, or not conducive to the best results. In the nature of things, it hardly can be that all are invalid, and this was conceded in argument. The defendants have not complied with any, or really offered to do so, but have proceeded upon the theory that the act and all the regulations are without application to their situation. In this they have been mistaken, and so are occupying and using reserved lands of the United States without its permission and contrary to its laws. Not until they seek a license or permit under the act and conform, or appropriately offer to conform, to all lawful regulations thereunder will they be in a position to complain that some of the regulations are invalid. As we interpret the decrees below, they enjoin the defendants from occupying and using the lands of the United States until, and only until, they acquire rights to do so by complying with some applicable statute and the lawful regulations. Of course, we do not imply that any of the regulations are invalid, but leave that question entirely open.
enactments providing or recognizing that rights to the use of water in streams running through the public lands and forest reservations may be acquired in accordance with local laws, but these enactments do not require particular mention, for this is not a controversy over water rights, but over rights of way through lands of the United States, which is a different matter, and is so treated in the right of way acts before mentioned. See Snyder v. Colorado Gold Dredging Co., 181 F. 62, 69.
As the defendants have been occupying and using reserved lands of the United States without its permission and contrary to its laws, we think it is entitled to have appropriate compensation therefor included in the decree. The compensation should be measured by the reasonable value of the occupancy and use, considering its extent and duration, and not by the scale of charges named in the regulations, as prayed in the bill. However much this scale of charges may bind one whose occupancy and use are under a license or permit granted under the statute, it cannot be taken as controlling what may be recovered from an occupant and user who has not accepted or assented to the regulations in any way.
It follows that the decrees are right and must be affirmed, save as they deny the government's right to compensation for the occupancy and use in the past, and in that respect they must be reversed.
Report Secretary of the Interior, 1899, pp. 6-7; House Report 1850, 56th Cong., 1st Sess.; Cong.Rec. 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 6762; id. 56th Cong.2d Sess., 2075.
The forest reserves were measurably placed under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture by the Act of February 1, 1905, c. 288, 33 Stat. 628.

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