Stephen Johnson Field

“ Justice Thompson of the distinctions made in covenants or promises of parties to a contract for the purchase and sale of real property, whether they were to be considered as independent or dependent, said: 'It is evident that the inclination of courts has strongly favored the latter construction as being obviously the most just. The seller ought not to be compelled to part with his property without receiving the consideration, nor the purchaser to part with his money without an equivalent in return. ”

“ The claim that the plaintiff below, Russ, had parted with valuable property, for which he was entitled to a judgment exceeding half a million of dollars from Count Telfener, for having transferred to him his hopes of securing a million acres of land from the state, for which he did not hold any promise or obligation of the state, does not merit consideration. As a claim it rests upon no solid foundation. ”

“ That the law of Texas expressly restricted the right of the applicant to purchase any portion of the unappropriated public lands of the state to 640 acres in one tract, and in this case the plaintiff claimed, and the court of appeals sustained his claim, that he had acquired a right, pursuant to the proceedings taken under the statute, to purchase 1,160,320 acres in one tract of the unappropriated lands of the state. ”