Smith v. Clarke
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAR FROM MILWAUKEE CIRCUIT COURT. The complaint in this case set forth that Smith and Power purchased two hundred and seven school land certificates, amounting to about 8,207 acres of land, situated in Columbia, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Brown, La Crosse, Adams and Crawford counties. The certificates were of the value of $15,000 or $20,000. The certificates were assigned in blank, and duly acknowledged, with verbal authority to fill in the names of the purchasers.
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APPEAR FROM MILWAUKEE CIRCUIT COURT. The complaint in this case set forth that Smith and Power purchased two hundred and seven school land certificates, amounting to about 8,207 acres of land, situated in Columbia, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Brown, La Crosse, Adams and Crawford counties. The certificates were of the value of $15,000 or $20,000. The certificates were assigned in blank, and duly acknowledged, with verbal authority to fill in the names of the purchasers. They were left with Power, that he might make a list of them. On the 7th of July, 1855, they sold an undivided interest in…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Cole, J.
We have already had occasion to consider the nature and character of school land certificates, as they are commonly called, and have no doubt but they are truly contracts for the sale of real estate, and must be treated as such in law. (See R. S. Chap. 24 ; passim; Smith vs. Mariner, 5 Wis. R., 551; J. A. B. Whitney vs. State Bank, post.) They are not in any just sense of the word, negotiable securities, and therefore it is a great mistake to apply ■to them the principles which govern the sale and transfer of such instruments, to which they bear no resemblance or analogy.…
2Cited by4 opinions
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