Samuel Freeman Miller

“ If the officers of that department of the government have acted within the general scope of their power, and without fraud, the patent which has issued after such proceedings must remain a valid instrument, and the court will not interfere, unless there is such a gross mistake or violation of the law which confers their authority as to demand a cancellation of the instrument. ”

“ Upon the application being made for a patent upon the Cayuga lode, the Marshall Silver Mining Company, descovering that it interfered with a portion of their claim, brought a suit in the local court of the state, under the act of congress on that subject, (section 2326, Rev. St.,) against McClellan, Rist & Webster, asserting the superiority of their claim to a patent for the land in controversy. The statute provides that the judgment in such a suit shall govern the rights of the parties in the land-office. ”

“ They acquiesced in the proceedings, and made no effort to set aside the patent, or to correct any injustice which had been done them in the proceedings upon which the patent had been issued, while the other parties had full and undisputed possession of the land.
It may be said that they could not help themselves, and that this silence and inaction on their part did not imply acquiescence. But they had the right to appeal to the commissioner of the general land-office from the order of the register and receiver dismissing their application. This was not done, and it never has been done. ”

“ The charges which are made the basis for the relief sought here may be comprehended under two heads, although they are so mingled together in the bill that it seems doubtful whether they were intended to be considered and treated as separate propositions. ”