John McLean

“ These are matters of public law, and are consequently known to all. But independently of this, every purchaser of a military title cannot but have a general knowledge of its history.
Why was not the defendant bound to search for the will? The answer given is, the distance was too great, and the place where the will could be found was not stated on the warrant, nor on any of the other papers. That mere distance shall excuse inquiry in such a case, would be a new principle in the law of notice. The certificate of the original right, and the warrant, were obtained in Richmond, Virginia. ”

“ Barr, 4 Ohio 458, the supreme court of Ohio held, that where a patent was issued to Newell, as assignee of the administrator of Henson Reeder, deceased, it was sufficient to charge a subsequent purchaser with notice of the equitable rights of the heirs of Reeder. It is difficult to draw a distinction, in principle, between that case and the one under consideration. An administrator, in Ohio, has no power, unless authorized by the court of common pleas, to sell or convey an interest in land; nor has an executor, in Virginia, any power over the realty, unless it be given to him in the will. ”

“ Kerr, 7 Wheat. 1, it was held, that an equity arising from an entry of land made on a warrant which had been issued by mistake, could not be sustained against a patent issued on a junior entry. The court say, 'the great difficulty in this case consists in the admission of any testimony whatever which calls into question the validity of a warrant issued by the officer to whom that duty is assigned by law. In examining this question, the distinction between an act which is judicial and one which is merely ministerial, must be regarded. ”

“ An agent receiving notes from an executor, payable to him as executor, as security for advances by the principal to the executor on his private account, and not as executor, affects his principal with notice that it is a dealing of an executor with the assets, for a purpose foreign to the trusts he was to discharge. 2 Ball & Beat. 491. When a purchaser cannot make out his title but through a deed which leads to a fact, he will be affected with notice of that fact. ”

“ It is insisted, that the register, of necessity, before he issues the warrant, must determine the right of the applicant, and that in doing so, he acts judicially; that presumptions not only arise in favor of such acts, but unless fraud be shown, they are not open to examination. The executive council of Virginia, in determining the right of Hockaday's heirs, may be said to have acted judicially ”

“ In such cases, the validity of the grant is necessarily examinable at law.' The same case was again brought before the court by a writ of error, and is reported in 5 Wheat. 293, in which the court held, that the system under which land titles originated in Tennessee, being peculiar, constituted, with the adjudication of its courts, a rule of decision for this court. ”