Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jun-09-1913
United States v. Mille Lac Chippewas - 229 U.S. 498 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Mille Lac Chippewas, 229 U.S. 498 (1913) United States v. Mille Lac Band of Chippewa Indians No. 736 Argued April 8, 9, 1913 Decided June 9, 1913 229 U.S. 498 APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS Syllabus When Congress passed the Act of January 14, 1889, adjusting relations with the Mille Lac Chippewas, a real controversy was subsisting which was thereby adjusted and composed, and the act is to be construed according to its plain and unambiguous terms. Indians, no less than the United States, are bound by the plain import of the language of an act of Congress and an agreement conferring substantial benefits on them. Under the Act of January 4, 1889, the Mille Lac Chippewas received substantial benefits, in consideration whereof they released their claims to lands in the Red Lake Reservation upon which there were valid preemption and homestead entries, and the United States is not boun...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-26-1913
Southern Pacific R. Co. v. United States - 228 U.S. 618 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Southern Pacific R. Co. v. United States, 228 U.S. 618 (1913) Southern Pacific Railroad Company v. United States No. 269 Argued April 30, 1913 Decided May 26, 1913 228 U.S. 618 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Land Grant Adjustment Acts of 1887 and 1896 did not provide for any recovery of interest on amounts for which the railroad companies were required to account for lands erroneously patented to them and sold by them to bona fide settlers, and there was no liability for such interest until the determination of the amounts for which the companies were liable to account. In view of the whole situation, and all the circumstances involved in the determination of the amounts for which the Southern Pacific Railroad Company was liable to account under the Land Grant Adjustment Acts, held that such company was not liable for interest until after the a...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-24-1913
Starr v. Long Jim - 227 U.S. 613 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Starr v. Long Jim, 227 U.S. 613 (1913) Starr v. Long Jim No. 151 Argued January 28, 1913 Decided February 24, 1913 227 U.S. 613 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON Syllabus An agreement as to division and allotment of lands between the Secretary of the Interior and chiefs representing Indians which is informal in terms and is afterwards ratified by Congress should be construed so as to confer upon the Indians the full measure of benefit intended. The best interests of the Indians do not always require that they should be allotted lands in fee, rather than by having them held in trust by the government for them. Page 227 U. S. 614 The agreement with Chief Moses and others of July 7, 1883, as to distribution of lands in the Columbia and Colville reservations and the Act of July 45, 1884, 23 State. 79, validating it, and the subsequent acts relating thereto, were properly construed by the Secretary...
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Decided on : Jan-01-1913
Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. United States - 227 U.S. 355 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Northern Pacific Ry. Co. v. United States, 227 U.S. 355 (1913) Northern Pacific Railway Company v. United States No. 500 Argued January 8, 9, 1913 Decided February 24, 113 227 U.S. 355 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT Syllabus While punctuation is a fallible standard of the meaning of a statute, the location of commas in the description of a boundary line may be considered. Where there is confusion in the calls bounding land described in a treaty, the effort of this Court should be to execute the intention of the treatymakers. In construing a treaty with Indians ceding lands, the Court will consider the differences in power and intelligence of the Indians and will not so construe it as to make it an instrument of fraud to deprive the Indians of more than they understood they were ceding. The western boundary of the reservation of the Yakima Indians reserved by...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-20-1913
Cameron Septic Tank Co. v. Knoxville - 227 U.S. 39 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Cameron Septic Tank Co. v. Knoxville, 227 U.S. 39 (1913) Cameron Septic Tank Company v. Knoxville, Iowa No. 82 Argued December 11, 12, 1912 Decided January 20, 1913 227 U.S. 39 APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA Syllabus Although, under 4884, Rev.Stat., a patent is for seventeen years, under the provision of 4887, Rev.Stat., as it has been judicially construed, the American patent granted for an invention previously patented in another country is limited by law, whether so expressed in the patent itself or not, to expire with the foreign patent previously granted having the shortest term. Section 4887, Rev.Stat., limiting patents to the period of the same patent previously granted by a foreign country, if any, has not been superseded by Article 4 bis of the Treaty of Brussels of 1900. A most essential attribute of a patent is the term of its d...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-24-1913
Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher - 227 U.S. 445 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher, 227 U.S. 445 (1913) United States ex rel. Champion Lumber Co. v. Fisher Submitted January 21, 1913 Decided February 24, 1913 227 U.S. 445 PETITION FOR WRIT OF ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus Under subd. 5 of 250 of the Judicial Code of 1911, a final judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia can only he reviewed by this Court in cases where the validity of any authority exercised under the United States, or the existence or scope of any power or duty of any officer of the United States, is drawn in question. The meaning of the phrase "drawn in question," as it occurs in 250 of the Judicial Code, is the same as in 709, Rev.Stat.; 5 of the Circuit Court of Appeals Act, and other statutes regulating territorial appeals. A statute of the United States authorizing an officer to act in a certain manner under certain condit...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-07-1913
Donnelly v. United States - 228 U.S. 243 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Donnelly v. United States, 228 U.S. 243 (1913) Donnelly v. United States * No. 97 Argued December 18, 1912 Decided April 7, 1913 228 U.S. 243 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus From an early period, Congress has accorded to the Executive a large discretion about setting apart and reserving portions of the public domain in aid of particular public purposes. Section 2 of the Act of April 8, 1864, conferring power on the Executive to set apart reservations for Indians, was a continuing power, and was not exhausted by the first order establishing reservations thereunder. The extension of the Hoopa Valley Reservation made by Executive Order of October 16, 1891, including a tract of country in California one mile in width on each side of the Klamath River, was lawfully established pursuant to the Act of 1864. In view of the history of the case, the ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-26-1913
Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell - 229 U.S. 1 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Bauer & Cie. v. O'Donnell, 229 U.S. 1 (1913) Bauer & Company v. O'Donnell No. 951 Argued April 10, 1913 Decided May 26, 1913 229 U.S. 1 CERTIFICATE FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus The right to make, use and sell an invented article existed without, and before, the passage of the patent law; the act secured to the inventor the exclusive right to make, use and vend the thing patented. While the patent law should be fairly and liberally construed to effect the purpose of Congress to encourage useful invention, the rights and privileges which it bestows should not be extended by judicial construction beyond what Congress intended. In framing the patent act and defining the rights and privileges of patentees thereunder, Congress did not use technical or occult phrases, but in simple terms gave the patentee the exclusive right to make, use, and vend his invention for a definite term ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-20-1913
Virtue v. Creamery Package Mfg. Co. - 227 U.S. 8 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Virtue v. Creamery Package Mfg. Co., 227 U.S. 8 (1913) Virtue v. Creamery Package Manufacturing Company No. 80 Argued December 9, 10, 1912 Decided January 20, 1913 227 U.S. 8 ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus To sustain an action under 7 of the Sherman Act, a necessary element is cooperation by some of the defendants in a scheme involving monopoly or restraint of interstate trade and causing the damage complained of. Page 227 U. S. 9 The owner of a patent has exclusive rights of making, using, and selling which he may keep or transfer in whole or in part. Patents and patent rights cannot be made a cover for violation of law, but they are not so used when only the rights conferred by law are exercised. Patent rights can be protected by a party to an illegal combination. While the combined effect of the separate acts alleged to have made the combination illegal...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-24-1913
Ross v. Stewart - 227 U.S. 530 (1913) U.S. Supreme Court Ross v. Stewart, 227 U.S. 530 (1913) Ross v. Stewart No. 140 Submitted January 23, 1913 Decided February 24, 1913 227 U.S. 530 ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA Syllabus Congress has power to invest a townsite commission with power to determine contests between rival claimants to lots in a townsite in Indian lands acquired and thrown open to settlement. The acts providing for designation, surveying, and platting townsites in the Cherokee lands and disposing thereof plainly show the intent of Congress to commit the appraisal and disposal of the lots to the commission created by the acts, subject to supervision by the Secretary of the Interior. The provisions of the acts do not contemplate the determination of conflicting possessory claims without inquiry into the merits. All reasonable presumptions must be indulged in support of the action of administrative officers to whom the law entrusts proceed...
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