United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Edward Hines Yellow Pine Trustees v. Martin, 268 U.S. 458 (1925)

Edward Hines Yellow Pine Trustees v. Martin

No. 363

Argued May 1, 1925

Decided May 25, 1925

268 U.S. 458

Syllabus

1. Where a construction of a state statute affecting title to real estate has been repeatedly determined by decisions of the state courts and thus established as a rule of property in the state, the federal courts will follow those decisions without inquiring into the justice and sufficiency of the rule as an original proposition. P. 268 U. S. 462.

2. Petitioners claimed title to land in Mississippi under a patent issued to a corporation under an act of the state legislature incorporating it and providing that the corporation should, within 60 days after the passage of the act, file with the Secretary of State a bond in a specified amount "with two or more good securities," and that, upon approval and filing of the bond, patents should be issued, upon demand of the company, signed by the Governor and countersigned by the Secretary of State. The state supreme court having repeatedly decided that a patent so issued was void because the bond filed and approved was executed by individuals only, and not by the corporation, and was therefore not a compliance with the statute, held that the rule thus established should be followed in a case arising in the federal court. P. 268 U. S. 457.

296 F.4d 2 affirmed.

Page 268 U. S. 459

Certiorari to a decree of the circuit court of appeals which affirmed a decree rendered by the district court for the respondents in consolidated suits to quiet title brought by the petitioners.