JUDICIARY, (continued.) Page. of the districts of Virginia, may issue a warrant to arrest Robert B. Randolph for the assault committed by him in the District of Columbia, on the President of the United States-the said Randolph being in Virginia... The power to arrest for any offence against the United States is given by the act of Punishment by the House of Representatives for an assault and battery on the per- 852 852 914 The punishment of General Houston by the House was for a breach of privilege and for contempt of the House; the indictment and conviction were for a violation of the public law. 914 The circuit court of the District of Columbia are not invested with authority to issue a mandamus against the Post Master General to compel him to execute an act of Congress in a particular way.. The circuit courts of the United States have not power to enjoin the Auditor of the Post Office Department from paying a contractor for carrying the mails, nor to enjoin the contractor from making collections from post-masters, according to his contract with the government.... Alexander, a post office agent, was sued in Georgia for damages for a malicious prosecution, and sought to have the cause removed to the federal courts, on the ground that he was a federal officer-HELD, that his being an agent in the employment of the Post Office Department did not give the right; but if he were a citizen of a State other than Georgia, his case would have been provided for by acts of Congress.. .... 1122 1414 1668 1985 The courts of the United States have no authority to try a captain of a Georgia battallion of infantry on the charge of murder, alleged to have been committed by him on the person of Lieutenant Goff, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, at Perote, in Mexico, whilst that place was occupied by American troops, and under the authority of a military governor appointed by Major General Scott..... The United States have no common law respecting crimes-no unwritten criminal code; and their courts have no jurisdiction except that conferred by acts of Congress, which fail to confer any jurisdiction over crimes committed in Mexico.... 1985 There is no criminal code which had any validity within the Mexican territory.... 1985 The offence, if committed, was either against the temporary government which has ceased to exist, or against the rules and articles for the government of the army, to which the troops since dismissed and mustered out of the service are not now amenable..... JURISDICTION OF CIVIL OVER MILITARY AUTHORITIES. JURORS DEFAULTING.... . . . . JUSTICES OF THE PEACE... 1985 1277 1773 1584 LANDS, survey of public. The surveyor of the public lands in the Territories of Illinois and Missouri, under the power conferred to engage surveyors as his deputies and to perform all and singular the duties which were required by law to be performed by the surveyor general, may let the work by contract.. It is his duty to fix the compensation of the deputy surveyors, chain-bearers and axemen; and it is not perceived how this can be done but by contract, for no deputy surveyor is under any obligation to accept or retain his place unless the compensation shall be satisfactory. 432 432 432 Fixing compensation by contract is doing all the law requires of the surveyor in that respect: he fixes the compensation.. The government will not complain of a practice which it has sanctioned, and which 432 518 The surveyor south of Tennessee and the surveyor of the State of Alabama are the proper officers to authenticate the township plats, and not the principal deputy, under the act of March 3, 1819... The act of 24th April, 1820, and the instructions issued under it, directing the manner of subdividing fractional sections containing over 160 acres, did not require the absolute platting of every quarter or half-quarter of which the section was susceptible; but contemplated the exercise of discretion so as to prevent small and inconvenient fractions of a fractional section.... It is the duty of surveyors general to subdivide fractional sections in conformity to law, and without reference to the existence of the pre-emption acts of May 29, 1830, and June 19, 1834.. It is the duty of surveyors general to divide fractional sections containing over 160 acres into lots approaching as nearly as practicable to the form and quantity of half-quarter sections; and it is competent for the department to direct the performance of the duty.. 518 1152 1152 1154 1154 A tender for more than the party is entitled to, does not destroy the tender; it may be regarded as precautionary. The survey is to be made without reference to pre-emptions, but pre-emptors are entitled to a legal survey..... 1154 It is proper after tender made and entry defeated by fault of the officers of the govern- 1154 Mistakes in these plats may occur, and when they do, may be corrected; but with respect to transactions occurring and private rights acquired upon the faith of the accuracy of the plats, and before correction of their mistakes, they should be left undisturbed wherever it is possible..... LANDS, PRE-EMPTIONS. The rights of pre-emption given to settlers by the act of the 12th April, 1814, attach ate....... No pre-emption occurred under the act of 26th May, 1824, to lands ceded by the Quapaw treaty, ratified January 18, 1825, notwithstanding the lands were within the Lawrence land district.. The language of the act of 26th May, 1824, touching pre-emptions, is in the present tense; therefore lands subsequently attached to the district were not subject to the pre-emption rights granted by it... 1247 1247 187 187 187 508 508 LANDS, PRE-EMPTIONS, (continued.) Page. Lands relinquished and reverted are not subject to pre-emption under the act of 29th Pre-emptions under contract with John Cleves Symmes could not be entered on 641 641 722 Where first settlers have rented their improvements to others, landlords, not tenants, are entitled to pre-emptions. The object of the law was to secure improvements to those making the expenditures...... Proof and entry may be made at any time within the life of the act, of lands subject to private sale at its passage... The claim is not forfeited, although entered by a bona fide purchaser at private entry, without notice.... In cases where settlers having made improvements on more than one tract of public land, and have leased such improvements and obtained a right of pre-emption to one quarter section themselves, the lessees on any other tract so improved are not entitled to the pre-emption..... 722 722 722 733 The revival of the pre-emption act of 19th May, 1830, by the act of the 19th June, 1834, embraces the provisions ingrafted thereon by the supplementary act of 23d January, 1832.. Pre-emption accrues to aliens under the acts of 1830 and 1834, especially where the local law authorizes them to hold and convey real estate.. The assignee of a pre-emption certificate takes it subject to the equities subsisting between the settler and the United States... The legal title is in the United States until a patent issues; and where the equities are equal, the legal title will prevail..... 945 1025 1026 ... 1026 ... 1026 A purchase without notice is a good defence against a suit, but not good ground to ..... The issuing of patents, however, depends on the Commissioner, who may suspend them where the decisions were obtained by fraud, or founded in material errors of fact or law... 1027 1027 ... 1027 In cases of doubt, patents may be suspended until the question shall have been determined by a competent tribunal.. There is reason to doubt whether a pre-emption to an accumulation of land in the ..... The lands ceded by the Quapaw treaty of August, 1818, are not subject to preemption under the act of April 12, 1814.... The Indian title not having been extinguished, they could not have been settled prior 1033 1033 1036 1036 ... 1049 The Commissioner may prescribe the mode and kind of proof-how and by whom it should be taken; but cannot prescribe anything as proof which is not such in fact, nor any rule as to its weight and force.... Where it is intended to admit the oath of an interested party, it is generally provided for in express terms...... ..... ..... Unsupported affidavits of settlers are not admissable as proof under the act... Competent proof is required; yet the Commissioner cannot properly require competent proof to be corroborated.. 1049 1049 1049 1049 1049 An entry allowed by the register and receiver upon the affidavit of the interested party and only corroborated by facts within their knowledge, is only erroneous and voidable, not void as against the United States.. .... Setlers or occupants, within the meaning of the law, are those who reside personally on the public land in question, or who occupy and use it. Settlements and occupancy cannot be effected by proxy. Pre-emption floats mislaid on lands subject to another right of preference, may be 1054 LANDS, PRE-EMPTIONS, (continued.) Page. instructions sent to the register and receiver from the Treasury Department, the case is clearly brought within the terms of the second section of the act of July 2, 1836; and the patent should issue accordingly.... 1058 The first section of the act of 2d July, 1836, confirms sales that are fair and regular in all respects, other than those provided for in the second section; and the same rule applies to the second section..... 1064 The Commissioner has to judge of the proof, and may receive further evidence in support of the fairness and regularity of the claim.... 1064 By the terms "settlers and "occcupants "used in the pre-emption acts, is meant those who personally cultivate and reside on, or who personally cultivate, use, manage the public lands.. and Actual residence on the land is not indispensable, yet with cultivation it is the highest evidence of that personal connexion which is indispensable.. 1087 1087 The head of a family, whose dwelling is not on the land, but who improves and cultivates by the application of his personal labor or by that of his family, hired men, servants, or slaves under his direction, is entitled to the benefits of the law....... 1087 The law of landlord and tenant is inapplicable to the subject of pre-emptions; yet, as it has been made the basis of instructions, the rule ought to be followed. The act of 2d July, 1836, confirms such entries.... A pre-emptor cannot be undermined by a subsequent fraudulent purchaser. 1087 1087 1095 The act of the 14th July, 1832, is an amendment of the act of 1830, which is revived A tender for the original tract and for the tracts selected, with a condition that the first shall not be received without the latter, is a good tender, provided all the tracts are liable to be selected; otherwise, not.. A pre-emptor may float a tract returned as a regular half-quarter section, and two pre- He may 1106 1106 1106 1106 Where the district contains regular half-quarters, the two floats cannot take fractions which, united, amount to over 160 acres. .. Designating a tract before the coming in of a plat, so as to enable the proper officer to locate, is sufficient. Error in description is not fatal, if the tract be identified... 1106 A person who inhabited one quarter section and cultivated another of which he was in possession on the 19th June, 1834, is entitled to enter the same after six months from the date of the act.... The option of entering either only is lost by neglecting to make the application within six months..... An officer of the army of the United States, in actual service, may have a valid preemption claim as settler or occupant of public lands, although it may seem to be incompatible with the condition of an officer in actual service.... 1137 1137 .... 1167 As to the personal residence and inhabitancy on public lands necessary to confer the 1172 1172 Where the improvement is on a fractional section containing over 160 acres, the claim- ..... 1174 The third article of the circular of July 22, 1834, and the third and eighth articles of the circular of October 21, 1834, are not inconsistent with the law.. Back pre-emptions cannot be lawfully claimed by those who were not owners of land on a river, creek, &c., at the time of the approval of the act of June 15, 1832; and individuals entitled to lands, but who had not located them at the date of said act, cannot be considered to have perfected a title to any specific lands so as to be regarded as owners within the meaning of the act. 1174 1174 1268 LANDS, PRE-EMPTIONS, (continued.) The land in controversy in this case was not subject to pre-emption, for the reason The dwelling-house of a pre-emptor being on a fractional section and his improve- The permissive possession during twenty-seven years may give him strong equities, which may be addressed to the legislature; yet the land officers can only be governed by existing acts of Congress.. Page. 1268 1270 1343 1343 The rights of pre-emption, if otherwise mature, may be allowed to lands reserved from sale under the supposition that they fall within the limits of the grant in aid of the Milwaukie and Rock River canal, but subsequently found not to be included 1351 Where an assignee in blank of the floating right of pre-emption to a specific quantity of land is in conflict with an assignee of the same right which has been actually located, and the commissioner of the General Land Office is satisfied that the assignment in blank is not clearly fraudulent, he ought to issue the patent to the original pre-emptor, leaving the conflicting claims to be settlled by courts of justice.... The disallowance of a pre-emption claim made by an assignee of a certificate of purchase, by the register and receiver, who had competent authority to judge of its validity, on grounds satisfactory to them that it was unfounded, is conclusive against the claim....... 1372 1412 The acquittal of McDonald and Norton, for perjury, charged to have been commit- 1412 1481 The acts of 1838 and 1840 revived the law of 1830; and the principle laid down in the opinion of the Attorney General, dated April 8, 1837, is applicable to the claimants in the present case. 1481 Pre-emptioners, under the act of 1834, have not the right to a survey and patent of land surveyed for town lots and streets, under the acts of 1836 and 1837, in the Territory of lowa.... 1483 These pre-emption grants give to the pre-emptioner a jus ad rem, but not a jus in re ; and such a right, resting in contract, cannot always be carried out by specific performance.. 1483 Nor can specific performance be decreed against a sovereignty which is not suable, without its consent. Claims of pre-emption cannot be allowed under the acts of Congress for lands acquired by the treaty of November 6, 1838, with the Miamies... The sales made to pre-emptioners within the admitted or ascertained limits of the Houma grant, are entirely void under the sixth section of the act of 1811...... In the cases of patents issued, there is no remedy awarded except in the courts..... 1529 Free colored persons are entitled to the benefits of the pre-emption act of 1841..... 1566 Aliens only, in the proper acceptation of the term, are excluded from the privileges of pre-emptioners. Colored people are distinguished from aliens, even where slavery exists, and are capable of all the rights of contract and property. The residence required by act of 1st June, 1840, is limited to date of that act, and need not have continued for four months next preceding it, as required by the act The Secretary of the Treasury has no power to order surveys of these town lots and streets into farm lots, to suit the wishes of pre-emptioners, in order to perform specifically one act of Congress which is in conflict with later acts, requiring a different survey.. 1483 1483 1527 1529 1566 of 1838.. Settlers upon the public lands must comply with the conditions of the land laws in order to avail themselves of the privilege of pre-emption..... 1601 1795 They must give the written notice of their settlement and intention to claim the right of pre-emption within thirty days from the date of their entering personally on the land with the intention of settling there...... 1795 They must also inhabit, improve, build, pay, and make proof, within twelve months, to be entitled to preference over those who may have entered the same lands at the land office.... 1795 |