David Josiah Brewer

“ The only parties entitled to the benefit of the act of 1842 are those who have 'just title or claim,' legal or equitable, under some grant of the commonwealth. As the patentee had no title or claim, legal or equitable, to these excluded lands, it follows that the act was not one for his benefit. ”

“ The survey of Thomas Edgar's claim, to which be refers, (6,718 acres of which, according to the testimony, lie within the Martin grant,) was not completed until April 20, 1796, which was after the issue of the patent, and therefore that tract could not come within the description therein of excluded lands. ”

“ Rep. 10. The opinion of Judge SNYDEF in the case of Bryan v. Willard, in which all the other judges concurred, reviews the authorities and fully discusses the question; and, if it were a new and entirely open one, and no weight were to be given to the expression of opinion from the highest court of the state, it would be difficult to resist the force of his argument. ”