Reese v. Harlan

Duffle, O.

These three cases involve the right of the widow of an allottee under the act of congress, approved August 7,1882, *486to a life estate in the unexpired equitable title of the al-lottee to Indian lands after the death of her husband as against the father or the mother of the deceased. The appellant claims that the unexpired term of 25 years during which the United States holds the legal title in trust is a chattel real which, under the terms of the sixth section of the act, descends to the next of kin, and that our statute giving the widow a life estate in the absence of issue is not…