United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/22nd Congress/1st Session/Chapter 72

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United States Statutes at Large, Volume 4
United States Congress

Public Acts of the Twenty-Second Congress, First Session, Chapter 72

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3081074United States Statutes at Large, Volume 4 — Public Acts of the Twenty-Second Congress, First Session, Chapter 72United States Congress

April 20, 1832.

Chap. LXXII.—An Act providing for the postponement of the trial of certain cases now pending in the superior courts of Arkansas territory, and for withholding from sale or entry certain lands in said territory.^[1]

District attorney authorized to suspend proceedings, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the district attorney of the United States for the territory of Arkansas be, and he is hereby, authorized and required to postpone until after the expiration of the next session of the Supreme Court of the United States, all further proceedings in any case which has been tried, or now is pending for trial, in the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, upon which bills of review have been filed in said superior court on the part of the United States, under the provisions of an act,Act of May 26, 1824, ch. 173.
Act of May 8, 1830, ch. 90.
Proviso. passed May the eighth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, entitled “An act further extending the powers of the judges of the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, under the act of the twenty-sixth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, and for other purposes.” Provided, however, that nothing in this act shall be applicable to any of the aforesaid cases now pending for trial on appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States:Proviso.
Proviso. And provided also, That nothing herein contained shall prejudice the rights of any of the parties: Provided, also, That no extra compensation shall be allowed said judges until the termination of the next term of the Supreme Court of the United States, after which the judges shall proceed to dispose of said cases under the provisions of said acts, and then be allowed the additional compensation from said time, until the cases are disposed of, or tried, by the said courts of Arkansas.

Lands to be withheld from sale.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States shall cause all the lands, the titles to which are involved in, or dependent upon, the trial of said bills of review, which are claimed by purchasers after the rendition of the original judgment, to be withheld from sale until the further order of Congress.

Approved, April 20, 1832.

↑ Under the provisions of the act of Congress, passed 26th May, 1824, ch. 173, proceedings were instituted in the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, by which a confirmation was claimed of a grant of land alleged to have been made to the petitioner, Sampeyreac, by the Spanish government prior to their cession of Louisiana to the United States, by the treaty of April 3, 1803. This claim was opposed by the district attorney of the United States, and the court, after hearing the evidence, decreed that the petitioner recover the land from the United States. Afterwards, the district attorney of the United States, proceeding on the authority of the act of Congress, May 8, 1830, filed a bill of review, founded on the allegation that the original decree was obtained by fraud and surprise; that the documents produced in support of the claim of Sampeyreac were forged, and that the witnesses who had been examined to sustain the same were perjured. At a subsequent term Stewart was allowed to become a defendant to the bill of review, and filed an answer, in which the fraud and perjury are denied, and in which he asserts that if the same were committed he is ignorant thereof; and asserts that he is a bona fide purchaser of the land, for a valuable consideration, from John J. Bowie, who conveyed to him the claim of Sampeyrac, by deed, dated the 22d October, 1828. On a final hearing the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, being satisfied of the forgery, perjury, and fraud, reversed the original decree. Held, by the Supreme Court of the United States, that those proceedings were legal, and were authorized by the act of May 5, 1830, ch. 90. Sampeyreac v. The United States, 7 Peters, 222.

[1] Under the provisions of the act of Congress, passed 26th May, 1824, ch. 173, proceedings were instituted in the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, by which a confirmation was claimed of a grant of land alleged to have been made to the petitioner, Sampeyreac, by the Spanish government prior to their cession of Louisiana to the United States, by the treaty of April 3, 1803. This claim was opposed by the district attorney of the United States, and the court, after hearing the evidence, decreed that the petitioner recover the land from the United States. Afterwards, the district attorney of the United States, proceeding on the authority of the act of Congress, May 8, 1830, filed a bill of review, founded on the allegation that the original decree was obtained by fraud and surprise; that the documents produced in support of the claim of Sampeyreac were forged, and that the witnesses who had been examined to sustain the same were perjured. At a subsequent term Stewart was allowed to become a defendant to the bill of review, and filed an answer, in which the fraud and perjury are denied, and in which he asserts that if the same were committed he is ignorant thereof; and asserts that he is a bona fide purchaser of the land, for a valuable consideration, from John J. Bowie, who conveyed to him the claim of Sampeyrac, by deed, dated the 22d October, 1828. On a final hearing the superior court of the territory of Arkansas, being satisfied of the forgery, perjury, and fraud, reversed the original decree. Held, by the Supreme Court of the United States, that those proceedings were legal, and were authorized by the act of May 5, 1830, ch. 90. Sampeyreac v. The United States, 7 Peters, 222.

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