Robert Trimble

“ Whatever singularity may, at first blush, appear in this clause of warranty, it vanishes when the state of the country, and the titles in it, are understood. The 5,000 acre entry of Hibbits, and the land given in exchange for it, in the contract of 1817, at that time all lay in the Indian country, and the Indian title thereon had not been extinguished. ”

“ Hibbits insists, that by the agreement and understanding of the parties, the assignment was intended as a mortgage or security for the debt, together with the advance to be made to the government; but Connor, in his answer, expressly denies such was the character of the agreement, and insists it was, that Connor should be proprietor of the warrant, so far as these sums would go, at the rate of sixty pounds per thousand acres, and that the residue should be held by him in trust for Hibbits. ”

“ We do not think so. In the very doubtful state of the question, where the state boundary would run, when ascertained by public authority, the various conjectures and opinions then existing on the subject, the near proximity of the land to the line, as afterwards established, no inference unfavourable to the fairness of Connor's conduct can justly be drawn from Hibbits' expectation at the time of the contract that the land was not in Tennessee, unless it were shown that Connor, by his representations, superinduced that expectation. ”