Bushrod Washington

“ The owner of the warrant has no power to control the conduct of the surveyor, whose duty it is to execute it, and it would therefore be unreasonable to deprive him of the title which the warrant confers upon him, on account of the subsequent neglect of that officer. ”

“ It is by acts that the intention of men, in the absence of positive declarations, can best be discovered. The survey made by Taylor was adopted by the principal surveyor, as one actually done in execution of the warrant to Sutherland, and it would be too much for this or any other court to presume that a contrary intention prevailed in the mind either of the principal or deputy surveyor, and on that supposition to pronounce the survey invalid. ”

“ Sutherland could not take a legal title to this land under the state of Virginia, and, consequently, that the grant to him in 1788 was void, and was not protected by the treaty of 1794, between the United States and Great Britain. ”