John Archibald Campbell

“ The court, in that case, said that a patent with a saving like that we are considering was a fee-simple title in its face, and is such a title as will afford protection to those claiming under it, either directly or having a title connected with it, with possession for seven years, as required by the statute of Illinois.
The act of limitations of Illinois (Revised Statutes, 349, sec. 8) protects the claim of a person for lands, which has been possessed by actual residence thereon, having a connected title in law or equity, deducible of record from that State or the United States. ”

“ This saving clause was designed to exonerate the United States from any claim of the patentee, in the event of his ouster by persons claiming under the acts referred to, and cannot be construed as separating any lots or parcels of land from the operation of the grant, or as affording another confirmation of titles existing under the acts of Congress described in it. The possession of Ballance, under this patent, was adverse to that of the claimants under the acts of 1820 and 1823, in every case in which their claim was not specifically admitted by him. ”

“ The patent does not impose upon him any duty to recognise these claims. It only requires him to accept the title of the United States with knowledge that such claims exist, and that they do not intend to deny or to destroy them, nor to defend his title against them.
The case of Bryan v. Forsyth, 19 How., 334, involved a controversy for a lot in the city of Peoria, similarly situated as that which forms the subject of this suit. ”