MacDonald v. United States

I dissent. The United States brought this action to enjoin the Great Northern Railway from drilling for and removing oil and gas underlying its right of way upon the -ground that the right to develop such oil and gas was not granted by the United States to the defendant Railway Company by the act of March 3, 1875, 18 Stat. 482, 43 U.S.C.A. § 934 et seq., under which the right of way was secured by the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Co., which was subsequently conveyed by it to the Great Northern Railway Company. The trial court granted the injunction.

The principal question…