Court Opinion

ID: 9482505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:52:28.339532+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:02.434299
License: Public Domain

HULL, Chief District Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the results of the majority opinion, but for the following reasons.
By 1848, a survey of the upper peninsula area around Keweenaw Bay had been completed. On August 26, 1852, the Canal Act was passed providing that 750,000 acres of public lands were to be granted to the State of Michigan
to be selected in subdivisions, agreeably to the United States surveys, by an agent or agents to be appointed by the governor of said state, subject to the approval of the secretary of interior, from any lands within said state, subject to private entry.
(Emphasis added). This Act was clearly nonself-executing, and therefore did not have the full force and effect of law, because further action was not only required of the State of Michigan, but also by the federal government. Man Hing Ivory & Imports, Inc. v. Deukmejian, 702 F.2d 760 (9th Cir.1983). In other words, the land to be given to the State of Michigan had not been identified with any certainty at this point, any land selected had to be done so by a particular procedure, and any land so selected was still subject to approval by the Secretary of Interior.
Beginning in April of 1853, Receiver Brown began to make canal land selections. In September of 1853, Register Butler gave a deposition indicating that he never saw a properly signed or sealed document that gave Mr. Brown the authority to select canal lands. Only the governor could appoint land agents for the canal company to select lands. However, the Secretary of the Interior sided with Brown.
Then, on September 30, 1854, the La Pointe Treaty was drafted. This treaty was self-executing because land areas were spelled out with specificity, and no further domestic action was required. Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Franklin Mint Corp., 466 U.S. 243, 252, 104 S.Ct. 1776, 1782, 80 L.Ed.2d 273 (1984).
On January 10, 1855, township 51-33 land selections were approved by the Secretary of Interior for the canal. However, patents for the land were not issued, because the contract for the canal still had to be approved by the State of Michigan. Therefore, domestic action was still pending before this Act could take full force and effect.
The La Pointe Treaty of 1854 was proclaimed on January 29,1855, and therefore, became effective on that date. As of March 7, 1855, a map was completed showing tracts which were shaded in red and blue that included all of township 51-33. On this same date, an Executive Order was issued identifying these tracts as reserved for Indian use under the treaty with the Chippewa Indians, as was ratified on Janu*366ary 10, 1855. Subsequently, on March 30, 1855, this Executive Order accompanied a letter which was sent to the Surveyor General which specifically instructed that the 51-33 lands be “withdrawn and withheld from sale or entry for any purpose whatsoever.” Other named townships were not exempted in whole or in part.
Nearly two months later, on May 21, 1855, the Governor of Michigan approved the contract to build the canal, which was the necessary domestic action that had to be taken for the Canal Act to go into full force and effect.
In spite of the Executive Order and letter, between May 21-25, 1855, patents for the canal land which included township 51-33 were delivered to the State of Michigan. On May 25, 1855, Michigan issued a patent to St. Mary’s Falls Ship Company for the Reynolds property contained in township 51-33.
Because township 51-33 became reservation property as of at least January 25, 1855, and because the Canal Act could not have the effect of law until all necessary domestic action was completed on May 21, 1855, this patent to township 51-33 was issued in error, and the Reynolds property should be designated as reservation land.
For the above reasons, I concur in the results of the majority opinion.