Magwire v. Tyler Et Al‪.‬

Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, for plaintiff in error. The two confirmations were connected in the same concession and included in one survey. That survey was recognised by the United States and acquiesced in by the parties for more than fifteen years. It vested an inchoate legal title in both according to their respective interests. It never was appealed from. Though the patent was irregular, yet, having issued, the legal title attends it. Kissell vs. St. Louis, (18 How., 22;) Elliott vs. Pierson, (1 Pet., 341.) But it did not affect the equitable rights of parties under the confirmation and survey. No appeal lay to the Secretary of the Interior. The Surveyor General is alone responsible for it, and he acts under no directions but those of the law and the judgment of the commissioners who confirmed the title. The survey of 1851, under which the patent issued, was a gross violation of right; it was made under the order of the Secretary, who had no authority against the expressed opinion of all the officers who had authority. This court has decided, and it is not denied, that the plaintiff cannot sustain ejectment against the patent. West vs. Cochran, (17 How., 416.) Wilcox vs. Jackson, (13 Pet., 517.) But the equity of the plaintiff (and that is what he now claims) was complete by the confirmation and survey. This court has jurisdiction to review the State court in a case like the present.