John Archibald Campbell

“ According to the rules and practice of the court, no case can be taken up out of its order on the docket, where private interests only are concerned. The only cases in which they will depart from this rule are those where the question in dispute will embarrass the operations of the Government while it remains unsettled. But when a case is sent to the court below by a mandate from this court, no appeal will lie from any order or decision of the court until it has passed its final decree in the case. ”

“ If unfavorable to the claimant, the land 'shall be deemed, held, and considered, as a part of the public domain of the United States;' but if favorable, the decrees rendered by the commissioners or the courts 'shall be conclusive between the United States and the claimants.'
These acts of Congress do not create a voluntary jurisdiction, that the claimant may seek or decline. All claims to land that are withheld from the board of commissioners during the legal term for presentation, are treated as non-existent, and the land as belonging to the public domain. ”

“ The declared purpose was to authenticate titles, and to afford the solid guarantee to rights which ensues from their full acknowledgment by the supreme authority. The tribunals were therefore enjoined to proceed promptly, and to render judgment upon the pleadings and evidence; and in deciding, they were to be governed by the laws of nations, the stipulations of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the laws, usages, and customs, of the Government from which the claim is derived, the principles of equity, and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in similar cases. ”