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Opinion of the Court.

This is precisely the principle asserted in the case before us. The Mississippi, Ouachita and Red River Railroad Company, under whose patent the plaintiff claims, had made the entry and received the certificate of that entry and of the payment of the money for this land, September 10, 1856. The patent on this certificate was not issued until April 15, 1875, which was nineteen years after the entire equitable interest in the land in controversy had been vested in the railroad company by virtue of the payment of the money and the register's certificate. As the title of Redfield had its inception in this proceeding, it is now argued, and the Circuit Court must have so decided, that the statute of limitations, instead of leaving it to commence with the issue of the patent, did run through the whole course of the possession of the defendant after the date of the issue of the register's certificate in 1856. Whether the statutes of Arkansas would have authorized an action to recover the possession by virtue of the register's certificate or not, it is precisely the same principle as that asserted by the Supreme Court of Missouri in the case of Gibson v. Chouteau. The opinion of this court, delivered by Mr. Justice Field in that case, states with great clearness the principle that a statute of limitation does not run against the State unless it is so expressly declared, and adds that: "As legislation of a State can only apply to persons and things over which the State has jurisdiction, the United States are also necessarily excluded from the operation of such statutes." With regard to the relation back to the inception of the title the court says (p. 100): "The consummation of the title is not a matter which the grantees can control, but one which rests entirely with the government. With the legal title, when transferred, goes the right to possess and enjoy the land, and it would amount to a denial of the power of disposal of Congress if these benefits, which should follow upon the acquisition of that title, could be forfeited because they were not asserted before that title was issued."

In regard to the principle asserted by the Supreme Court of Missouri, the opinion says (p. 101): "The error of the learned court consisted in overlooking the fact that the doctrine of relation is a fiction of law adopted by the courts solely

Opinion of the Court.

for the purposes of justice, and is only applied for the security and protection of persons who stand in some privity with the party that initiated proceedings for the land, and acquired the equitable claim or right to the title. The defendants in this case were strangers to that party and to his equitable claim, or equitable title, as it is termed, not connecting themselves with it by any valid transfer from the original or any subsequent holder. The statute of limitations of Missouri did not operate to convey that claim or equitable title to them. It only extinguished the right to maintain the action of ejectment founded thereon, under the practice of the State. It left the right of entry upon the legal title subsequently acquired by the patent wholly unaffected.

"In the Federal courts, where the distinction between legal and equitable proceedings is strictly maintained, and remedies afforded by law and equity are separately pursued, the action of ejectment can only be sustained upon the possession by the plaintiff of the legal title. For the enforcement of equitable rights, however clear, distinct equitable proceedings must be instituted. The patent is the instrument which, under the laws of Congress, passes the title of the United States. It is the government conveyance. If other parties possess equities superior to those of the patentee, upon which the patent issued, a court of equity will, upon proper proceedings, enforce such equities by compelling a transfer of the legal title, or enjoining its enforcement, or cancelling the patent. But, in the action of ejectment in the Federal courts, the legal title must prevail, and the patent, when regular on its face, is conclusive evidence of that title.

"But neither in a separate suit in a Federal court, nor in an answer to an action of ejectment in a state court, can the mere occupation of the demanded premises by plaintiffs or defendants, for the period prescribed by the statute of limitations of the State, be held to constitute a sufficient equity in their favor to control the legal title subsequently conveyed to others by the patent of the United States, without trenching upon the power of Congress in the disposition of the public lands. That power cannot be defeated or obstructed by any occupation of

Opinion of the Court.

the premises before the issue of the patent, under state legislation, in whatever form or tribunal such occupation be asserted." 13 Wall. 101, 104.

These principles are illustrated by other cases in this court, such as Rector v. Ashley, 6 Wall. 142; United States v. Thompson, 98 U. S. 486.

The question of the two years' statute of limitation of Arkansas presents other considerations. That statute is in the following language:

"No action for the recovery of any lands, or for the possession thereof, against any person or persons, their heirs or assigns, who may hold such lands by virtue of a purchase thereof, at a sale by the collector, or commissioner of state lands, for the non-payment of taxes, or who may have purchased the same from the State by virtue of any act providing for the sale of lands forfeited to the State for the non-payment of taxes, or who may hold such lands under a donation deed from the State, shall be maintained, unless it shall appear that the plaintiff, his ancestor, predecessor or grantor was seized or possessed of the lands in question within two years next before the commencement of such suit or action."

There can be no question but that more than two years had elapsed after the issue of the patent of the United States, under which plaintiff asserts title, and after his cause of action had accrued during which the defendants were in possession of a part, if not the whole, of the land in controversy. Therefore, if the circumstances of that possession are such as to bring it within the purview of this statute, the possession was a bar to recovery. On this subject the court declared as conclusions of law: 1st. That the tax deed, under which defendants claimed, is void, because the land was sold for taxes of 1868 on a day not authorized by law; 2d. That under the laws of this State, notwithstanding the said tax deed is void upon its face, for the reason stated, it constitutes a claim and color of title sufficient to put in motion the statute of limitations in favor of any person in possession under it; 3d. That the possession taken by Parks and Montgomery of said land under said tax deed, in the manner set out in the finding of facts, constitutes in law

Opinion of the Court.

actual, peaceable, open, notorious and adverse possession of the whole of said land; and said possession of said land having been taken by Parks and Montgomery, as early as the month of February, 1874, and maintained continuously by them and their grantees down to the trial of this cause, the plaintiff's right of action to recover said land is barred by the two years' statute of limitation contained in section 4475 of Mansfield's Digest, and also by the seven years' statute of limitation, contained in section 4471 of the same digest.

We think it very clear that the judge was correct in holding this tax deed to be void. It was not merely void by extrinsic facts shown to defeat it, but was absolutely void on its face. But we think that the court erred in holding that such an instrument could create color of title which would bring the case within the foregoing statute of limitations.

The case of Moore v. Brown, 11 How. 414, brought the question before this court. The court says, p. 425:

"It is disclosed upon the face of the deed that the auditor sold the land short of the time prescribed by the act. It was not, then, a sale according to law. That must have been as well known by the purchaser as it was by the auditor."

After a somewhat elaborate opinion it was certified to the Circuit Court, from which the case had come by division of opinion, "that the paper offered in evidence by the defendant is a void deed upon the face of it, and was not admissible as evidence for the purpose for which it was offered," which was to support the possession under the statute of limitations.

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A similar decision was made in the case of Walker v. Turner, 9 Wheat. 541.

Many of the States of the Union have enacted what are called short statutes of limitation, the object of which is to protect rights acquired under sales of real estate for taxes. The general purpose of these statutes is to fix a period of time running in favor of the holder under such tax titles, after which the validity of that title shall not be questioned for any irregularity in the proceedings under which the land was sold. This object was generally attained by the enactment of

Opinion of the Court.

short statutes of limitations, by means of which the party in possession under such defective titles can, by pleading this statute, make his title good.

The brief of counsel in this case produces many instances of cases decided in the courts under statutes of this class; and the general principles pervading them is well expressed by the Court of Appeals of Kentucky in the case of Trustees of Kentucky Seminary v. Payne, 3 T. B. Mon. 161, 164, in which the court says:

"Instead of twenty years mentioned in the general act, but seven years are required by this act of 1809; but, to form a bar to an action, something more is required by the latter act than an adverse possession for seven years."

In Waterson v. Devoe, 18 Kansas, 223, 232, the court held that the tax deed, which upon its face showed that it was void, did not support the possession as a bar under the short statute of limitations in that State which applied to actions for the recovery of lands sold for taxes. The court, in that case, said, quoting from the previous case of Shoat v. Walker, 6 Kansas, 65:

"A tax deed to be sufficient, when recorded, to set the statute of limitation in operation must of itself be prima facie evidence of title. It is not necessary that it be sufficient to withstand all evidence brought against it to show that it is bad; but it must appear to be good upon its face. When the deed discloses upon its face that it is illegal, when it discloses upon its face that it is executed in violation of law, the law will not assist it. No statute of limitations can then be brought in to aid its validity."

Similar decisions have been made in the cases of Mason v. Crowder, 85 Missouri, 526; Sheehy v. Hinds, 27 Minnesota, 259; Cutler v. Hurlbut, 29 Wisconsin, 152; Gomer v. Chaffee, 6 Colorado, 314; Wofford v. Mc Kinna, 23 Texas, 36.

We do not discover in the statute of Arkansas, nor in the decisions of its courts, cited by counsel for defendant, anything to contravene these views, and we think that both the weight of authority and sound principle are in favor of the proposition that when a deed founded on a sale for taxes is introduced

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