Levi Woodbury

“ It is true, that the opinion given in the State court in support of its judgment is not entirely free from some grounds for misconception, yet the judgment itself appears right, and, if erroneous, resting as it does wholly on the State laws, it is not competent for us, under this writ of error, to reverse it. We can reverse it only when wrong, and wrong, too, for deciding improperly against some claim under a United States law or treaty. ”

“ That was the question before the court, and the one they settled; and in deciding that, they overruled the claim of Gill to be so, by virtue of any authority in the treaty or award; and in saying that the fund should go to Oliver's executors, as best entitled, rather than Gill, they did it under their own State laws.
It is a general rule for the State tribunals, and not the commissioners, to settle any conflict between different claimants ”

“ See the twenty-fifth section of the act of 1789 (1 Stat. at Large, 85) , and various decisions under it, including Owings v. Northwood's Lessee, 5 Cranch, 348, and Smith v. Maryland, 6 Cranch, 304; 2 Howard, 372. ”