Samuel Freeman Miller

“ The fifth section of the act then declares that 'the said plat and survey, so finally determined by publication, order, or decree, as the case may be, shall have the same effect and validity in law as if a patent for the land so surveyed had been issued by the United States.'
Counsel for the plaintiffs has argued that a patent from the United States is final and conclusive on everybody, and that the title which it confers cannot be disputed in a court of law. ”

“ Each party is supported by a patent from the United States issued upon a confirmed Mexican grant, and by a survey approved by the General Land-Office. Each patent includes the land in controversy. The explanation of this is, that while the grants were in the main for different tracts of land, they interfere and overlap when the lines of each are clearly ascertained. ”

“ That held by defendants was but a small part of this, and they, by their answer, did not set out their own metes and bounds, or any description of what they held, but denied that plaintiffs were the owners and entitled to all the land described in the complaint.
It is said that this made an immaterial issue; for if plaintiffs owned the land in possession of defendants, it was not necessary to prove their ownership of what lay outside of that, though claimed in their petition. ”