David Josiah Brewer

“ The government receives its price for the land, and is, therefore, fully protected, and Ireland receives that in respect to which he certainly has some equitable claim of consideration,-a preferential right of purchase.
The third party is the settler under the land laws, and we pass to consider his status and rights. A settler is, as has often been said, favored in law, but it does not follow therefrom that he is the only one whose equities are to be considered. ”

“ Ireland was a citizen of the United States. The tract was within the contract made by the company with him in 1883. It had never been conveyed to the company, or for its use. It was an odd-numbered section, within the limits of the grant, and coterminous with a constructed part of the road. It was excepted from the operation of the grant because of a defect in the selection of indemnity lands. All these matters being beyond dispute, there remain open the questions whether the land could be deemed to have been sold by the company to Ireland, and whether he was a bona fide purchaser ”

“ Doubtless, whether a transaction evidenced by a written agreement was a real transaction or a sham, whether it was executed with a fraudulent intent or in good faith, may present questions of fact, and in so far as those questions are involved in this case the conclusions of the Land Department are final. ”