Harlan F. Stone

“ When questions affected by the interpretation of a state statute or a local rule of property arise in a federal court, that court has the same authority and duty to decide them as it has to decide any other questions which arise in a cause, and where state decisions are in conflict or do not clearly establish what the local law is, the federal court may exercise an independent judgment and determine the law of the case. ”

“ To avoid the uncertainty and injustice which result from 'the discordant elements of a substantial right which is protected in one set of courts and denied in the other, with no superior to decide which is right' (Brine v. Insurance Co., 96 U.S. 627, 24 L. Ed. 858) , this court has not hesitated, when there has been a conflict of decision between it and the state courts affecting a rule of property within the state, to overrule its own decisions and to follow the state decisions once it has become evident that they have established a 'rule of property' as the settled law of the state. ”

“ The validity of petitioner's title depends upon the determination of the question whether the bond filed by the company was a compliance with the provisions of the statute so as to render operative the patent issued by the officials of the state to the company as a valid conveyance of the fee of the lands in question. ”