United States ex rel. Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher
United States ex rel. Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
Every point advanced by appellant in this case is, in our view, settled by the following very recent decisions: Fisher v. United States, 37 App. D. C. 436; United States ex rel. Ness v. Fisher, 223 U. S. 683, 56 L. ed. 610, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 356; United States ex rel. McKenzie v. Fisher, ante, 7. In Fisher v. United States, which involved the interpretation of the very statute upon which appellant here relies, this court, speaking through Mr. Justice Yan Orsdel, said: “While it is true that arbitrary power resides nowhere in our system of government, and while the supervisory authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of the General Land Office over the disposition of the public lauds is neither unlimited nor arbitrary, yet the question here presented as to whether or not the communication and order amounted to a protest, which we regard as exceedingly close, was one clearly within the power of the Commissioner to decide. To say that he was mistaken would require us to review a matter exclusively confided by law to his discretion and judgment. This proceeding will not admit of such a review.”
The communications of special agent Hammer respecting this entry were made within the two years contemplated by said act of March 3, 1891, as was the communication of June 18, 1894, from the Commissioner to said agent. It is apparent that these communications resulted in the withholding of a patent; in other words, that the Commissioner regarded the right to that patent as dependent upon the outcome of the investigation which was to ensue. The subsequent decision of
Upon the authority of the above cases, therefore, the judgment will be affirmed, with costs. Affirmed.
On November 16, 1912, the appellant applied for the allowance of a writ of error from the Supreme Court of the United States.
The application was denied November 18, 1912, Mr. Chief Justice Shepard delivering the opinion of the Court:
On consideration of the motion for the allowance of a writ of error to remove the above-entitled cause to the Supreme Court of the United States, it is by the court this day ordered that said motion be, and the same is hereby, denied, on the authority of U. S. ex rel. Red River Lumber Co. v. Fisher, post, 186.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES EX REL. CHAMPION LUMBER COMPANY v. FISHER
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- 1 case
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- Syllabus
- Public Lands; Mandamus. Whether letters from a special agent of the General Land Office to the Commissioner, asking that patents be withheld for lands embraced in certain entries pending a further investigation and report, on the . ground of suspected fraud, followed by an order suspending action on all such entries until further order, constitute a “pending contest or protest” against the validity of the entries, within the meaning of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. at L. 1099, chap. 561, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1521), providing that after the lapse of two years from the issuance of a receiver’s receipt upon a final entry, “when there shall be no pending contest or protest against the validity of such entry,” the entryman shall be entitled to a patent,-—■ is a question within the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to determine, on application by such entrymen for a patent after the expiration of the period of two years; and on the Secretary’s refusal to issue a patent to one of such entrymen, mandamus will not lie to compel its issuance. (Following Fisher v. United States, 37 App. D. C. 436; United States ea> rel. Ness v. Fisher, 223 U. S. 683, 56 L. ed. 610, 32 Sup. Ct. Eep. 356, affirming 33 App. D. C. 302; United States eco rel. McKenzie v. Fisher, ante, 7.)