Congress passed no law in any wise affecting title to lands in
the Territory of Oregon until September, 1850, and therefore where
a controversy arose, in July, 1850, relating to titles to land,
neither party could be said to have a legal title.
Consequently, the amount in controversy could not be ascertained
so as to bring the case within the jurisdiction of this Court, and
there is no question arising under the Constitution or laws of the
United States so as to give jurisdiction.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
Page 62 U. S. 291
MR. JUSTICE CATRON delivered the opinion of the Court.
Parrish filed his bill in equity against Lownsdale and others in
a district court of Oregon Territory, praying for an injunction to
restrain the defendants from obstructing a narrow
Page 62 U. S. 292
piece of land, claimed as Water Street, lying in front of the
complainant's storehouse, and a square of ground claimed as his,
two hundred feet on each side, laid off into eight lots, as city
property, within the City of Portland, and on one of which the
storehouse stands. The strip of land lying in front of these lots
extends to the Wallamette River; at that point, the land is several
hundred feet wide. The complainant alleges that it was dedicated to
the public as a street, to the use of the proprietors of the town,
for the purposes of commerce, the river there being within the flow
of tide, navigable for ships and requiring a wide front space to
accommodate loading and discharge of cargoes.
The district court found that Water Street, in the City of
Portland, was bounded by the river opposite the lots of the
complainant, and that the defendants at the commencement of the
suit were about to obstruct the same to the special injury of the
plaintiff, as stated in the bill, and thereupon an injunction was
granted, as prayed for. This decree was affirmed in the Supreme
Court of Oregon, where the respondents carried the cause by appeal,
and from that decree they have appealed to this Court, and we are
called on to revise the proceedings below.
The first question presented is whether this Court has
jurisdiction and power to reexamine the controversy.
By the act of Congress organizing the inhabitants of Oregon
Territory into a government, it is provided sec. 9 that writs of
error and appeals from final decisions of the Supreme Court of
Oregon shall be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States
where the value of the property or the amount in controversy shall
exceed two thousand dollars, to be ascertained by the oath of
either party or by a competent witness, and also in cases "where
the Constitution of the United States, or an act of Congress, or a
treaty of the United States, is brought in question."
The complainant assumes that he would sustain special damage by
the obstruction of the space between his property and the river,
but how much damage does not appear from the allegations in the
bill or otherwise, and it is difficult for us to
Page 62 U. S. 293
see how either party to the suit could sustain damage to his
rights of property, as the town was laid off in 1845, on property
of the United States whilst our inhabitants who had emigrated there
and those of Great Britain held joint possession of the country in
virtue of the treaty between the two nations of October 20, 1818,
art. 13, which was continued in force by the convention of August
6, 1827.
In June and July, 1845, the people of Oregon Territory, "for
mutual protection, and to secure peace and prosperity among
themselves," elected delegates, who met in convention and adopted
laws and regulations for their government "until such time say they
as the United States of America extend jurisdiction over us." In
this plan of government it is provided that anyone wishing to
establish a claim to land shall designate the extent of his claim
by line marks, and have it recorded in the office of the
territorial recorder, the claim not to exceed a mile square, or 640
acres. The description of claim under which the complainant and the
respondents set up title is founded on this regulation. By the
treaty of 15 June, 1846, the line dividing our possessions and
those of Great Britain west of the Rocky Mountains was concluded,
and on the 14th of August, 1848, Congress passed an act to
establish the territorial government of Oregon, in which the laws
then existing under the provisional government established by the
people are continued and declared to be operative until
altered.
"But [says the act, sec. 14] all laws heretofore passed in said
territory making grants of land or otherwise affecting or
encumbering the title to lands shall be, and are hereby declared to
be, null and void."
Congress passed no law in any wise affecting title to lands in
Oregon Territory till September 27, 1850, and the bill in this case
was filed July 29, 1850, so that when the litigation commenced,
neither party to the suit had any title to or interest in the land
whatever, and therefore the respondents and appellees could not
sustain injury by being enjoined not to erect buildings on lands
belonging to the government in which they had no interest. It is
proper to remark here that we have nothing to do with, nor can we
notice, rights acquired to this
Page 62 U. S. 294
property by acts of Congress passed subsequently to the origin
of this controversy.
Neither the Constitution of the United States nor an act of
Congress or a treaty was "brought in question" in the lower court;
neither side could have legitimately raised such a question and
called for its decision, and to give this Court jurisdiction of the
case in this instance, the question must have been raised and
decided in the lower courts, and it must so appear on the record.
41 U. S. 16 Pet.
281
Being of opinion that there is no jurisdiction in this Court to
examine and revise the decree of the Supreme Court of Oregon, we
order the appeal to be
Dismissed.