Southern Pacific Railroad v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT. This was .a suit begun in the Circuit Court of the United:'. States for the Southern District- of-'California, by bill filed.' April 13, 1899. The parties named :as.' defendants were 'the - Southern Pacific Railroad Company,.'the, trustees, in..certain-mortgages, and a number of individuals sued as represeñtatives . of a class.
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APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT. This was .a suit begun in the Circuit Court of the United:'. States for the Southern District- of-'California, by bill filed.' April 13, 1899. The parties named :as.' defendants were 'the - Southern Pacific Railroad Company,.'the, trustees, in..certain-mortgages, and a number of individuals sued as represeñtatives . of a class. In a general way it may be said that the bill averred that a large body of lands, some thirty thousand acres and over, had been erroneously patented to the railroad company, and that portions thereof had…
1Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Brewer,
after making the foregoing' statement, delivered'the opinion of the court.
The appellants challenge the decree on two grounds: First, that a suit in equity cannot be maintained, because there is a plain,.adequate and complete remedy at law; and, second, that the United States cannot by legislation create an obligation of the railroad company for the value of the land patented to and conveyed by it to bona fide purchasers.
No objection was made to the jurisdiction of the court as a court of equity by any pleading or before the hearing. It is undoubtedly true that a suit in…
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