Rankin v. Williams

Statutory duties imposed upon the Land Commissioner are ministerial. Act 282 of 1917. Section 5 contemplates that the Commissioner shall predicate his determinations upon reports made by a surveyor, together with the surveyor’s attending field notes. The Commissioner is permitted to promulgate rules for ascertaining whether land formations, are accretion or island, and the legislative langhage is such that, in the absence of fraud or collusion, the Commissioner’s findings shall be final. Section 4 of the Act authorizes issuance of “such muniment of title as is now provided by law for the sale…