Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/91840/logan-vs-davis
Timestamp: 2017-12-18 18:49:41
Document Index: 566922628

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 237', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 5']

Logan Vs Davis - Citation 91840 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Logan Vs. Davis - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/91840
Case Number 233 U.S. 613
logan v. davis - 233 u.s. 613 (1914) u.s. supreme court logan v. davis, 233 u.s. 613 (1914) logan v. davis no. 247 submitted march 9, 1914 decided may 11, 1914 233 u.s. 613 error to the supreme court of the state of iowa syllabus under § 237, judicial code, this court has jurisdiction to review a judgment of a state court denying a claim duly set up under a confirmatory patent issued under § 4 of the land grant adjustment act of 1887 and holding that the patentee was not entitled to the benefit of the provisions of that section. the decision of the secretary of the interior that the grantee of a railroad company was a purchaser in good faith in the sense of the adjustment act of 1887, is conclusive so far as.....
Logan v. Davis - 233 U.S. 613 (1914)
U.S. Supreme Court Logan v. Davis, 233 U.S. 613 (1914)
made after the date of the act no less than prior purchases, if made in good faith, and many thousands of acres having been patented to individuals under that interpretation, this Court will not now disturb it. Knepper v. Sands, 194 U. S. 476 , distinguished.
A remedial statute is to be construed liberally so as to effectuate the purpose of the legislative body enacting it, and so held as to the Adjustment Act of 1887. United States v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 184 U. S. 49 .
One is a purchaser in good faith within the sense of § 4 of the Adjustment Act of 1887, if he is in actual ignorance of defects in the railroad company's title and the transaction is an honest one on his part, the ordinary rule respecting constructive notice being inapplicable. United States v. Winona & St. Peter R. Co., 165 U. S. 463 .
could not properly claim the 22,000 acres. In the circuit court, the United States prevailed, and this Court affirmed the decree. 159 U. S. 159 U.S. 349. The ground upon which the decision rested is indicated by the following extract from the opinion (p. 159 U. S. 370 ):
Shortly following the decision of this Court in that suit, the lands recovered by the United States, including this tract, were regularly restored to public entry in conformity with the provisions of the adjustment act, and a contest at once ensued in the Land Department over this tract. Logan, claiming to be a purchaser in good faith, applied for a confirmatory patent under § 4, and Davis, claiming to be a bona fide occupant, sought to obtain title under the homestead law. A hearing before the local land office at which the parties presented such evidence as they had in support of their respective claims resulted in a decision by the local officers in favor of Davis. This was affirmed by the Commissioner of the General Land Office on the theory that the agreement of March 13, 1894, was fatal to Logan's claim as a purchaser, and upon an appeal to the Secretary of the Interior, the decisions below were reversed, it being found and held by the Secretary that Logan was a purchaser in good faith within the meaning of § 4 of the adjustment act; that the agreement of March 13, 1894, did not alter his status as a purchaser, and that Davis' possession, acquired after the purchase by Logan, and with knowledge of it, did not eliminate the element of good faith from the latter's purchase or otherwise defeat his claim. As a result of this decision, Logan made the requisite payment to the government ( see amendatory act of February 12, 1896, supra ), and was given a confirmatory patent.
As Logan claimed as a purchaser in good faith within the meaning of § 4 of the adjustment Act of 1887, under which a confirmatory patent had been issued to him, and the supreme court of the state denied that claim, and held that he was not entitled to the benefit of the provisions of that section, the judgment is so plainly subject to review by this Court under section 237 of the Judicial Code that a contention to the contrary, found in one of the briefs, is dismissed as not justifying further comment. Gauthier v. Morrison, 232 U. S. 452 .
And as the Secretary of the Interior found, from the evidence submitted in the contest before the Land Department, that Logan was a purchaser in good faith in the sense of the adjustment act, and no basis was laid in the pleadings or agreed statement of facts for rejecting or disturbing that decision save as it was said to be grounded upon error of law and misconstruction of the statute, it is manifest that, unless some of the objections urged against it on that score are well taken, Logan's title should be sustained. Vance v. Burbank, 101 U. S. 514 , 101 U. S. 519 ; Lee v. Johnson, 116 U. S. 48 ; Gertgens v. O'Connor, 191 U. S. 237 , 191 U. S. 240 ; Ross v. Day, 232 U. S. 110 .
The Act of 1887, in its first section, authorized and required the Secretary of the Interior immediately to adjust, in accordance with the decisions of this Court, the several land grants made by Congress to aid in the construction of railroads, "and heretofore unadjusted." This included
the grant made by the Act of 1864, unless already adjusted. That it had not been adjusted by the Land Department is conceded, but it is insisted that it had been adjusted by the legislation and action of the state in 1882 and 1884, and so was not within the operation of the adjustment Act of 1887. To this we cannot assent. The United States had not committed the adjustment to the state, and neither had the state assumed to make an adjustment for the United States. Prior to the Act of 1887, the administration of the several railroad land grants rested with the Land Department, of which the Secretary of the Interior is the head, Catholic Bishop of Nesqually v. Gibbon, 158 U. S. 155 , 158 U. S. 166 -167,, and some of the lessor grants had progressed to a final adjustment in regular course of administration. It was because of this that the restrictive words "and heretofore unadjusted" were inserted in the act. They meant only that adjustments theretofore effected by the Land Department in regular course were not to be disturbed. The facts before recited amply illustrate that this grant had not proceeded to such an adjustment. The Secretary of the Interior treated it as unadjusted, Sioux City & St. P. R. Co., 6 L.D. 54, 71, and this Court impliedly, if not expressly, approved his action. Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad Co. v. United States, 159 U. S. 349 , 159 U. S. 40 L. ed. 177.
The second section of the Act of 1887 related to the recovery by the United States of lands which, upon the completion of any adjustment, or sooner, appeared to have been erroneously certified or patented by the Land Department "to or for the use of benefit of any company" claiming under a grant to aid in the construction of a railroad. The third section related to the reinstatement of preemption and homestead entries found, in the course of any adjustment, to have been erroneously cancelled by reason of such a grant or a withdrawal, and directed that, where the entryman failed to apply for a reinstatement within a
" Provided further, That where such purchasers, their heirs or assigns, have paid only a portion, of the purchase price to the company, which is less than the government price of similar lands, they shall be required, before the delivery of patent for their lands, to pay to the government a sum equal to the difference between the portion of the purchase price so paid and the government price, and in such case the amount demanded from the company shall be the amount paid to it by such purchaser."
Whether § 4 was confined to purchases made prior to the date of the act, or equally included subsequent purchases, where made in good faith, is one of the controverted questions in the case. Both views have support in the terms of the act, and if the question were altogether new, there would be room for a reasonable difference of opinion as to what was intended. Certainly resort to interpretation would be necessary. But the question is not altogether new. It has often arisen in the administration of the act, and successive Secretaries of the Interior uniformly have
held that the remedial sections embraced purchases after the date of the act, no less than prior purchases, if made in good faith. Sethman v. Clise, 17 L.D. 307; Holton v. Rutledge, 20 L.D. 227; Andrus v. Balch, 22 L.D. 238; Briley v. Beach, 22 L.D. 549; Re Seaver, 23 L.D. 108; Neilsen v. Central Pacific Railroad Co., 26 L.D. 252. Many thousands of acres have been patented to individuals under that interpretation, and to disturb it now would be productive of serious and harmful results. The situation therefore calls for the application of the settled rule that the practical interpretation of an ambiguous or uncertain statute by the executive department charged with its administration is entitled to the highest respect, and, if acted upon for a number of years, will not be disturbed except for very cogent reasons. United States v. Moore, 95 U. S. 760 , 95 U. S. 763 ; Hastings & Dakota Railroad Co. v. Whitney, 132 U. S. 357 , 132 U. S. 366 ; United States v. Alabama Great Southern Railroad Co., 142 U. S. 615 , 142 U. S. 621 ; Kindred v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 225 U. S. 582 , 225 U. S. 596 .
The remedial sections of the act were also considered by this Court in United States v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 184 U. S. 49 , 184 U. S. 56 , which involved several purchases made after the date of the act, and it was there said: "But the act itself bears upon its face evidence that it was not intended to be limited to cases of purchases from the railroad company prior to its date." And, after referring to the language of §§ 2 and 3, it was added:
Counsel for Davis rely upon Knepper v. Sands, 194 U. S. 476 , as placing a different interpretation upon the adjustment act. But, although some broad language is found in the opinion, the real decision did not go as far as suggested. The case came here upon a certificate from a circuit court of appeals, and the question presented for decision, considering the facts stated in the certificate, was whether a purchase from the railroad company of land erroneously patented for its benefit under the grant of 1864, could be esteemed a purchase in good faith within the meaning of § 4 of the Act of 1887, where, at the time of the purchase, the land was occupied by a bona fide settler who was residing upon, improving and cultivating the same with a view to acquiring it under the homestead law. The question was answered in the negative, particular emphasis being laid upon the settler's occupancy at the time of the purchase and upon the well known policy of favoring actual settlers. The answer must have been the same whether the purchase was before or after the date of the act, and manifestly there was no purpose to overrule or qualify the decision in United States v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. supra, for it was not even mentioned. So, reading the opinion in Knepper v. Sands with appropriate regard for the facts of the case, we think it is not in point
The contention that Logan was charged with constructive notice of the defect in the company's title, and so was not a purchaser in good faith in the sense of the adjustment act, must be overruled, as was a like contention in United States v. Winona & St. Peter Railroad Co., 165 U. S. 463 . It was there said, referring to the remedial provisions of § 4 (p. 480):
And, referring to the provisions of § 5, it was further said (p. 165 U. S. 481 ):
"It is true the term used here is ' bona fide purchaser,' but it is a bona fide purchaser from the company, and the description given of the lands, as not conveyed and 'for any reason excepted from the operation of the grant,' indicates that the fact of notice of defect of title was not to be considered fatal to the right. Congress attempted to protect an honest transaction between a purchaser and a railroad company, even in the absence of a certification or patent."
This view of the purpose and meaning of the act was repeated and applied in Gertgens v. O'Connor, 191 U. S. 237 , and United States v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St.Paul Railway Co., 195 U. S. 524 .
As it thus appears that the decision of the Secretary of the Interior was right in point of law, and as it was conclusive upon all questions of fact ( Gertgens v. O'Connor, supra ), it follows that the state court erred in not sustaining Logan's title obtained under that decision.