Dolhequy v. Tabor
Dolhequy v. Tabor
Opinion of the Court
On the twenty-ninth day of September, 1858, Dolhequy made a request to the locating agent to have the land in question located under the Act of April 23d, 1858. The selection was made in the United States Land Office on the fourth day of October, 1858. On the sixteenth day of November, 1858, one James C. Tabor made a' claim at the United States Land Office to have a preemption right to a portion of the land. Upon a notice to the parties interested, this claim was investigated by the United States Register, and on the eleventh day of January, 1859, a decision was made against the claim, from which decision the claimant, on the twelfth day of January, 1859, appealed to the United States Commissioner of the General Land Office, and on the sainé day the United States Register transmitted a transcript of- all the papers and proceedings and testimony in the case to the Commissioner, and notified Dolhequy that the approval of the location made by the State in his behalf, and all further proceedings in regard to said location were thereby suspended. Dolhequy thereupon deposited with the United States Register the sum of one hundred and twenty dollars, to be paid to the State for the first payment of twenty per cent, and interest, if his location should be finally allowed.
The defendant claims that the plaintiff forfeited his right to a certificate of purchase by not paying for it in due time.
The Act of 1858 does not specify the time when payment is to be made, and the application to become a purchaser was not made by Fowler until long after the proceedings under Dolhequy’s application had been suspended. Dolhequy’s rights, we think, continued in force during the pending of the appeal by James C. Tabor, and until the result of that appeal was known at the United States Register’s office. By Sec. 4 of the Act of 1859, supplementary to the Act of 1858, the twenty per cent, is to be deemed to be due and payable within fifty days after the approval of the Surveyor General is recorded by the locating agent. The approval of the Surveyor General does not appear to have been filed in the matter after the decision of the United States Commissioner of the
The judgment is therefore reversed and the Court below directed to enter a decree as prayed for in the complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DOLHEQUY v. TABOR
- Status
- Published