Gabriel Duvall

“ Admitting the universality of the maxim, de jure respondent judices, de facto juratores, it will not be denied, that it is the province of the Court to decide upon the force and legal effect of a sealed instrument. The deed conveys, by metes and bounds, the land contained in the second grant to Rowan, corresponding precisely, in courses and distances, from the beginning to the given line inclusive; and will not admit of the construction, that the first tract, called Walnut Grove, was conveyed, merely because it includes Livingston's cabin. ”

“ The settlement called Livingston's cabin, and that made by Helm, and transferred by Helm to Piles, are included in his own grant for two hundred acres, dated Augus, 15, 1808, and also within the plaintiff's grant, and principally within that part of Rowan's first grant, which interferes with that of the plaintiffs. His third possession is contained within Rowan's first grant, which interferes with the plaintiff's grant as has already been stated. All these possessions, being founded on grants, are protected by the act of limitations, the provisions of which are too plain to be misunderstood. ”