William Johnson

“ But while they admit that a genuine warrant shall be in itself the evidence of an entry, they cannot yield to the absurdity of attaching that effect to a forged warrant.
With regard to the decisions of the State of North Carolina, it is a well known fact, that on the subject of the effect of entries, the Courts of the two States are at direct variance. And, singular as it may seem, opposite constructions of the same laws constitute rules of decision to their respective Courts. And if it is the law upon their own citizens, we are willing to apply the same rules of property to all others. ”

“ This Court disavows having ever decided more than that an entry, or other legal incipiency of title, was necessary to the validity of a grant issued by North Carolina, for lands in Tennessee, after the separation. They have never expressed an inclination to let in inquiries into the frauds, irregularities, acts of negligence, or of ignorance of the officers of government, prior to the issuing of the grant; but, on the contrary, have expressed the opinion, that the government must bear the consequences. ”

“ But the existence of an entry, it is contended on behalf of the plaintiff, is indispensable to the issuing of a warrant of survey, and to the validity of grants, which ought by law to have their origin in such entries. With a view, therefore, to impeach the prior grant to Sevier, under which these defendants claim, the plaintiff proposes to prove, that there never were in fact any entries made to justify the issuing of the warrants under which their title had its inception. ”