Smyth v. New Orleans Canal Banking

by Stephen Johnson Field

United States Supreme Court

141 U.S. 656

Smyth  v.  New Orleans Canal Banking

The controversy involved in this suit arises from conflicting claims of the parties to lands in the suburbs of New Orleans, alleged to be of great value. It seems, from the opinions of the secretaries of the interior presented on the hearing, that no regular survey by the land department of the government was extended over the city and its suburbs prior to 1871. The surveys previously made were only such as were required to ascertain the boundaries of old grants from the Spanish or French government. But in 1871 and 1872, under the direction of the land department, surveys were extended over the city and adjoining country to Lake Ponchartrain, and township maps of the same were prepared and approved. One of the townships described as township 12 S., range 11 E., disclosed various lands which, being low and wet, fell under the designation of swamp or overflowed lands covered by the swamp-land grant to the state of 1849, and they were listed to the state. Within the township there were extensive improvements, consisting of railroads, gardens, race-courses, cemeteries, and buildings of various kinds, such as are usually found in the neighborhood of a large city. When it became known that the lands of the township were held by the land department to belong to the state, and therefore were open to sale, many parcels were entered by different parties, the complainant in this case being one of them. It subsequently appeared that certain ancient grants covering the premises, alleged to have been made by the former governments of Spain and France, were brought forward by one of the defendants in this case, the New Orleans Canal & Banking Company, which claimed under them, for itself and its vendees, title to the lands. Proceedings were then taken to obtain a reconsideration of the action of the land department, a resurvey of the city and suburbs, and an annulment of the listing of the lands in township 12 S. to the state, as swamp and overflowed. It would serve no useful purpose to detail at length the various proceedings had under the direction of the interior department, exercising its supervisory authority over the officers of the land department, to correct their alleged erroneous action. They are stated at length in the opinions of the secretaries. It is sufficient to say that the genuineness and extent of the ancient grants were considered and established. The finding of the lands as vacant, swamp, and overflowed was set aside, and the listing of the same to the state was canceled. The complainant thereupon filed his bill in the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana, by which he seeks to have his alleged title adjudged to be valid, and possession of the demanded premises decreed to him, with the rents and profits for their unlawful use and possession. In the bill he details the various steps, taken through the instrumentality of the land department, to obtain title to the premises. He sets forth that by the treaty of Paris of April 30, 1803, with the French republic, the whole, province or territory of Louisiana, comprising the lands designated on the official map of township 12 S., range 11 E., was ceded to the United States; that the lands had not been previously separated from the public domain; that since their cession the United States have exercised ownership over them, and congress has passed several acts respecting them, and, among others, the swamp-land act of 1849; and that under them the lands have been selected and listed, as swamp and overflowed land, to the state, and he has become their purchaser. He also avers that he is the sole owner of 2,295 acres of the lands by his purchase, of which he has received patents for all but 800 acres, and for this balance he has been prevented from receiving patents by the fraudulent conduct of parties claiming under pretended ancient grants. After reciting various proceedings before the land department and in the district court of the United States respecting the said grants, the bill alleges that the land department has decided that these ancient grants were complete French grants needing no confirmation, and obligatory upon it so far as to require it to direct the public surveys to be closed on the lands covered by them. It charges that the various proceedings taken by the department in that respect were invalid and unauthorized, and that from the invalidity and unauthorized character of the proceedings the complainant's right to the lands was not defeated nor impaired. It therefore prays that the complainant may be declared the owner and put in possession of the premises described, and have an accounting for the rents and profits.

J. Ward Gurley, for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 659-660 intentionally omitted]

H. C. Miller, I. L. Bradford, and Gus. A. Breaux, for appellees.

Mr. Justice FIELD delivered the opinion of the court.

Notes