Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ The Atlantic & Racific road forfeited its grant (act of July 6, 1886, chap. 637, 24 Stat. at L. 123) , and thereafter the Southern Pacific selected the two parcels in question, as indemnity under its branch-line grant, one of them lying within the granted, and the other within the indemnity, limits of the Atlantic & Pacific. It relies on the general principle that whether lands are subject to selection as indemnity depends upon the state of the lands at the time the selection is made. ”

“ Rep. 18, was followed and the practice of the Land Department in accordance with that decision was mentioned as a further ground. There may be distinctions between the latest decision and this, but, in view of the rightly established understanding, it is too late to set them up now. ”