Stephen Johnson Field

“ The facts as they existed at the time of the cession of Virginia to the United States, in 1784, and even at the time of the admission of Kentucky into the Union, have long since passed beyond the memory of man, and therefore cannot be established by oral testimony. As counsel says, the very grandchildren of men then living are now hoary with age. The facts can only be established as a matter of inference from general facts in regard to the condition of the country, and documentary evidence, which in many cases rises little above that of hearsay ”

“ Anthony, that great inconvenience would have followed if land on either side of the river, that was separated from the main-land only by a mere bayou, which did not appear to have ever been navigable, and was dry a portion of the year, had been attached to the jurisdiction of the state on the opposite side of the river; and, in the absence of proof that the waters of the river once flowed between the tract in controversy in this case, and the main-land of Indiana, we should feel compelled to hold that it was properly within the jurisdiction of the latter state. ”

“ Even when a state retains its dominion over a river which constitutes the boundary between itself and another state, it would be extremely inconvenient to extend its dominion over the land on the other side which was left bare by the receding of the water ”

“ It is not shown, as he adds, that an officer of hers executed any process, civil or criminal, within it, or that a citizen residing upon it was a voter at her polls or a juror in her courts, or that a deed to any of its lands is to be found on her records, or that any taxes were collected from residents upon it for her revenues. This long acquiescence in the exercise by Kentucky of dominion and jurisdiction over the island is more potential than the recollections of all the witnesses produced on either side. ”

“ The territory lying north and west of the Ohio, embracing the state of Indiana, as well as the territory lying south of that river, embracing the state of Kentucky, was previous to 1776, and down to the cession of the same to the United States, held by the state of Virginia. Indeed, that commonwealth claimed that all the territory lying north of the Ohio river and west of the Alleghanies, and extending to the Mississippi, was within her chartered limits. ”

“ Between nations, therefore, it becomes necessary to admit prescription founded on length of time as a valid and incontestable title.' Book 2, c. 11, § 149. nd Wheaton, in his International Law, says: 'The writers on national law have questioned how far that peculiar species of presumption arising from the lapse of time, which is called 'prescription,' is justly applicable as between nation and nation ”