Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ That before paying any money to such persons the secretary of the treasury shall require the person or persons entitled to receive the same to execute a release of all claims and demands of every kind and description whatever against the United States arising out of the execution of said acts, and also a release of all right, title and interest in and to the said lands. ”

“ But we think a perusal of the whole act prevents our giving this unlimited construction, because to do so would conflict with what we think was the intention of congress, gathered from the provisions of the whole act. Under such circumstances it is not only the right, but it is the plain duty, of the court to limit, by a proper construction, the otherwise boundless application of the general language used in the statute. ”