John McLean

“ The commissioner can in no sense be said to have assumed a jurisdiction over a subject not confided to him by the act. There is no exception made by the lawgiver-all suspended entries are to be determined. The only legitimate subject of inquiry is, whether the defendant's entry was a suspended one; as soon as this is ascertained in the affirmative, the jurisdiction attaches, and the allegation by the plaintiff that the entry was void is simply an assertion that the commissioner erred in deciding it not to be void. ”

“ There are laws which expressly require the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, but this is not one of those. The land department has a very proper regulation of its own, both in regard to State selections and claims to pre emption, under which its officers examine whether the particular case conforms to the law under which the claim is made. But it is not understood there as adding any thing to the right of the claimant by its approval, or taking away any thing from it by its disapproval. If the law gives the right, the person has it, whether the office approves or disapproves. ”

“ I. The title set up by plaintiff is not, under the evidence adduced, either a legal or equitable title to the land in controversy.
The 8th section of the act of Congress of the 4th September, 1841, (5 Statutes at Large, 455,) granting 500,000 acres of land to the State of Louisiana, does not set apart any particular land, and separate it from the public domain. It only authorizes the State to make locations of land to that extent; and the location, when made by the State, does not ipso facto separate from the public domain the land so located. ”