Minnesota v. Lane/Opinion of the Court

This bill of complaint is filed by the state of Minnesota to quiet title to certain lands in that state, and to enjoin the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of the General Land Office from issuing patents for the lands to the Immigration Land Company, a corporation of the state of Minnesota. The government filed a motion to dismiss the bill upon the following grounds:

'1. The court is without jurisdiction to entertain this suit     because it is in substance and effect against the United      States, which has not consented to be sued or waived its      immunity from suit.

'2. There is a defect of parties defendant which cannot be     cured without depriving the court of jurisdiction.

'3. The relief prayed for would be an invasion of the lawful     jurisdiction of the defendants as officers of the Land      Department.

'4. The bill of complaint does not state facts sufficient to     entitle the state of Minnesota to any relief.'

From the allegations of the bill it appears that the state claims title to the lands under Act of August 3, 1892, c. 362, 27 Stat. 347.

The Immigration Land Company claims title under section 5 of the Act of March 3, 1887, c. 376, 24 Stat. 556, relating to the adjustment of land grants to railroad companies.

The last-named statute provides that where the railroad company shall have sold to citizens of the United States as a part of its grant lands not conveyed to or for the use of the company, said lands being the numbered sections prescribed in the grant, and being coterminous with the constructive parts of the road, and where the lands so sold are for any reason excepted from the operation of the grant, it shall be lawful for a bona fide purchaser thereof from said company, to make payment to the United States for the lands at the ordinary government price for like lands, and thereupon patents shall issue to the bona fide purchaser, his heirs or assigns.

Under this act, on February 9, 1907, the Land Company made application in the Land Department to purchase the land, claiming to be the assignee of a bona fide purchaser of the lands from the railroad company. The state of Minnesota protested against the issuance of a patent to the Immigration Land Company, and claimed the land under the act of August 3, 1892, under which undisposed-of lands of the United States, situated in certain sections and townships, were granted to the state for a public park. The act of 1892 also provides that it shall not in any manner interfere with, supersede, suspend, modify or annul the vested right of any person, company, or corporation in respect to any of the land existing at the date of the passage of the act.

A hearing was had before the commissioner of the General Land Office upon the issue made between the state of Minnesota and the Immigration Land Company, wherein the Commissioner held:

'These tracts of land are within the second indemnity limits     of the grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad (now Railway)      Company, under act of July 2, 1864 (13 Stat. 365), as amended      by joint resolution of May 31, 1870 (16 Stat. 378). On     October 15, 1883, said railway company selected all of the      above described tracts of land per list No. 12, Crookston      rearranged list No. 12, filed April 19, 1893. he bases given     in support of the selections covered by such rearranged list      were lands claimed to have been excepted from the company's      grant of July 2, 1864, supra, by reason of the reservation      subsisting at the date thereof on account of the grant made      by the act of May 5, 1864 (13 Stat. 64), to aid in the      construction of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad.

'Said list of selections No. 12 was canceled as to these and     other tracts of land by letter 'F' of March 20, 1907, upon      authority of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United      States in the case of the Northern Lumber Co. v. O'Brien, 204      U.S. 190, 27 Sup. Ct. 249, 51 L. Ed. 438, but the     cancellation was suspended by the order of the Secretary of      the Interior on April 1, 1907, and remained in that status      until October 30, 1909, when said list of selections No. 12      was canceled as to these and other tracts of land.

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'The lands above described, with others were sold and     conveyed by the Northern Pacific Railway Company by warranty      deed for a valuable consideration, January 14, 1891, to      Frederick Weyerhaeuser, Peter Musser and M. G. Norton, whose      title was afterwards conveyed by certain mesne conveyances to      the applicant Immigration Land Company as set forth in its      application to purchase dated February 2, 1907, and filed in      your office February 9, 1907.'

Of the issues involved the Commissioner said:

'The attorneys on behalf of the state of Minnesota contend that the lands herein involved, which are situated     within the limits of the Itasca State Park, were granted to      the state by act of August 3, 1892 (27 Stat. 347), and it is      urged on the part of the state that the grant took effect      immediately, the land being 'undisposed of' on that date, and      that the claim asserted by the Immigration Land Company does      not have the dignity of the 'vested right,' protected in      section 2 of said act.

'On behalf of the Immigration Land Company it is contended     that these lands were segregated from the mass of public      lands by Crookston indemnity list of selections No. 12, made      October 15, 1883, which was not canceled from the records      until October 30, 1909; that the sale of the lands covered by      cash entry No. 05008, in the name of the Immigration Land      Company, by said railway company on January 14, 1891, was      bona fide and for a valuable consideration, and it is urged      that the Immigration Land Company should have its purchase of      said lands protected under section 5 of the act of March 3,      1887 (24 Stat. 556), and receive patent therefor; the      attorneys for the Land Company contending that the lands      involved were not 'undisposed of lands' on August 3, 1892,      the date of the grant to the state.'

After an opinion, in which the issues were considered, the Commissioner reached the conclusion.

'Accordingly, it is held that under section 5 of the act of     March 3, 1887, the rights of the Immigration Land Company      under the facts and laws above cited are superior to the      claim of the state under the act of August 3, 1892, that cash      entry 05008 by said Immigration Land Company should remain      intact.

'The protest of the state is hereby dismissed subject to the     usual right of appeal within thirty days after notice to the      Secretary of the Interior.'

The decision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office was affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior, and a rehearing denied. State of Minnesota v. Immigration Land Co., 46 Land Dec. 14.

The purpose of the bill filed in this case is to quiet title to the lands in controversy by a decree in favor of the state of Minnesota notwithstanding the decision of the Secretary of the Interior, and to enjoin that officer from issuing patents for the lands to the Immigration Land Company.

We are of opinion that the state has mistaken its remedy, and if it be true that the secretary has made a mistake in overruling the contention of the state that the title passed to it under the act of August 3, 1892, relief must be sought in the courts after the issuance f patent.

The grant to the state of August 3, 1892, was of all undisposed-of lands in certain townships, and section 2 specifically provided that it should not interfere with, supersede, suspend, modify or annul the vested rights of any person, company, or corporation in respect to any of said lands existing at the date of the passage of the act. The act of March 3, 1887, permitting bona fide purchasers of certain lands, in the manner which we have stated, to make payment and acquire title to the lands excepted from the operation of the railroad grant, was then in full force. A part of these lands had been purchased before the act granting them to the state, by the Immigration Land Company, and the Secretary of the Interior held that the title thus acquired was superior to that of the state, and patents were about to be issued, in accordance with the decision of the Secretary, to such bona fide purchaser. This decision is not of an arbitrary character, and was made upon full hearing before the department of the government intrusted with the administration of the public land laws, and the patents were still unissued when this suit was brought.

This is not a case where the title had passed absolutely in favor of the claimant, as was the fact in Lane v. Watts, 234 U.S. 525, 34 Sup. Ct. 965, 58 L. Ed. 1440; Id., 235 U.S. 17, 35 Sup. Ct. 3, 59 L. Ed. 104. It is a case where the grant was in terms of 'undisposed-of lands,' and subject to the vested rights of others. As against those holding such lands the title was not intended to pass.

The act of 1887, under which the Immigration Land Company claims title, specifically provides that patents shall be issued for lands to which the purchaser is entitled. The patents not having issued, the lands in controversy were still in course of administration in that department of the government which, until patent issues, has exclusive control of proceedings to acquire the title.

As we have said, the remedy must be sought in the courts after the issuance of patent. Under such circumstances as are here disclosed this court has uniformly so held. Litchfield v. The Register et al., 9 Wall. 575, 577, 19 L. Ed. 681; Michigan Land & Lumber Co. v. Rust, 168 U.S. 589, 592, 593, 18 Sup. Ct. 208, 42 L. Ed. 591; Brown v. Hitchcock, 173 U.S. 473, 19 Sup. Ct. 485, 43 L. Ed. 772; Kirwan v. Murphy, 189 U.S. 35, 23 Sup. Ct. 599, 47 L. Ed. 698; Lane v. Mickadiet, 241 U.S. 201, 208, 209, 36 Sup. Ct. 599, 60 L. Ed. 956.

It follows that the bill of the state must be dismissed, and it is so ordered.

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.