US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

U.S. Supreme Court

Wood v. Railroad Company, 104 U.S. 329 (1881)

Wood v. Railroad Company

104 U.S. 329

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

Syllabus

1. The grant of ten odd-numbered sections of land per mile to the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company by the Act of July 2, 1864, c. 218, 13 Stat. 358, was in praesenti, and although not expressly requiring them to be taken within any specific lateral limit, necessarily implied that they should consist of those nearest to the line of road upon which the grant could, consistently with its exceptions and reservations, take effect.

2. Where the odd-numbered sections within the limit of twenty miles from the line were, conformably to the act, withdrawn, held that so much of the land thereby embraced as was not sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of, or to which a preemption or a homestead claim had not attached, was subject to the grant, and that no right in conflict therewith could be thereafter acquired.