St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co. v. Phelps, 137 U.S. 528 (1890)
U.S. Supreme Court
St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co. v. Phelps, 137 U.S. 528 (1890)
St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company v. Phelps
No. 26
Argued and submitted November 6, 1890
Decided December 22, 1890
137 U.S. 528
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
Syllabus
The grant of lands to the Territory of Minnesota by the Act of March 3, 1857, 11 Stat. 195, c. 99, and the grant to the State of Minnesota by the Act of March 3, 1865, 13 Stat. 526, c. 105, were grants in praesenti, and took effect by relation upon the sections of land as of the date of the grant, when the railroads were definitely located, both as to so much of the grants as was found within the limits of the State of Minnesota as defined by the act admitting it as a state and as to so much thereof as was within the limits of the Territory of Minnesota under the territorial organization of 1857, but was not within the limits of the state when admitted as a state.
It cannot be safely asserted that it has been the general policy of the United states government to restrain a grant of land made to a state in aid of railways to lands within such state when a part of the line of road extends into one of the territories.