Roger B. Taney

“ We do not mean to express any opinion as to the rights in contest between the parties. The question before us concerns merely the jurisdiction of this court, upon the case as it is now presented; and it is, therefore, not material to the present inquiry, whether the parol evidence offered by the defendants was, or was not, properly rejected. For the decision on that point, as well as on the question as to the legal effect of the certificate having been in favor of the right claimed, this court is not authorized to examine into the correctness of the judgment given by the state court. ”

“ These patents were granted, in 1837 and 1838, to different persons, under whom the defendants claimed the possession. And in order to show that the said certificate of McAffee was fraudulently obtained, they offered to prove, that the parties to whom the patents above mentioned issued, were entitled to the benefit of pre-emption in the said land, under the acts of congress then in force, before the lessor of the plaintiff obtained his certificate ”