Lomax v. Pickering, 173 U.S. 26 (1899)

Lomax v. Pickering

No. 128

Submitted January 12, 1899
Decided February 20, 1899
173 U.S. 26

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS

Syllabus

A record in the Department at Washington of the approval by the President of a deed made by an Indian to convey lands held by him subject to the provision in the Treaty of Prairie du Chien that it was never to be leased or conveyed without the permission of the President is notice to all concerned from the time it was made, and is similar in effect, to a patent issued by the President for lands that belong to the government which is not required to be recorded in the county where the land is located.

The recording of a deed of such land, made without previous approval of the President, is notice of the grantee’s title to subsequent purchasers; and, when approved, operates to divest the title of the grantor as against a subsequent grantee.

This was an action of ejectment brought by Aquila H. Pickering against John A. Lomax and William Kolze to recover possession of two parcels of land in Cook County, Illinois, which had originally been granted by the United States to certain Indians under the Treaty of Prairie du Chien of July 29, 1829.

This case was before this Court upon a former hearing, Pickering v. Lomax, 145 U.S. 310, the report of which contains a full statement of the facts, which need not be here repeated. Upon that hearing, the judgment of the Supreme Court of Illinois was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial, which resulted in a judgment for Pickering, the plaintiff, and in an affirmance of that judgment by the Supreme Court of Illinois. Lomax v. Pickering, 165 Ill. 431. To review this judgment, a second writ of error was sued out from this Court.