Albert J. Cadorette v. United States

BREYER, Chief Judge.

In 1972 the United States bought eight acres of land in Truro, Massachusetts, to add to the Cape Cod National Seashore. Unfortunately, the seller, Elizabeth Freeman, owned only a small percentage share of the eight acres that she purported to convey. Elizabeth’s long-lived great-grandfather, Edmund Freeman, (whom we shall call “Edmund the Elder”) had owned 100% of the eight acres when he died in 1870, but, after his death, the property descended, through inheritance, to many different children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, each of whom obtained title to various…