BUCHSER
v.
BUCHSER

U.S. | 1913-11-17
No. 641
231 U.S. 157 Supreme Court of the United States (1913) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 58 L. Ed. 166 · 34 S. Ct. 46 · 1913 U.S. LEXIS 2583 · SCDB 1913-046
Cited by 20 cases

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Synopsis

A homesteader acquired land in Washington under federal homestead laws, and upon his wife's death, his children claimed an interest in the property as community property under Washington state law. The Supreme Court held that once the federal government completed the patent and transferred title, the land became subject to state property laws, including Washington's community property regime, and that this application did not conflict with federal homestead policy.

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Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Holmes

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a bill to quiet title, alleging that the plaintiff, a married man, made entry and acquired title to the land in question under the homestead laws of the United States by patent issued December 17, 1903; that thereafter his wife died, and that the defendants, the children of the marriage, claim an interest in the land. By the laws of the State of Washington, in which the property is situated, it became community property unless the statutes of the United States forbid. Teynor v. Heible, 133 Pac. Rep. 1. On that point we follow the Washington decisions. There was a demurrer, which was sustained by the District Court; sub nom. Buchser v. Morss, 196 Fed. Rep. 577, and by the Circuit Court of Appeals, 202 Fed. Rep. 854. 121 C. C. A. 212.

There is no doubt, of course, that until the title is completed the laws of the United States control. Wadkins v. Producers Oil Co., 227 U. S. 368. Bernier v. Bernier, 147 U. S. 242. Hall v. Russell, 101 U. S. 503. Gibson v. Chouteau, 13 Wall. 92. But when the title has passed then the land Tike all other property in the State is subject to state legislation.’ Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Peters, 498, 517. Irvine v. Marshall, 20 How. 558, 564. McCune v. Essig, 199 U. S. 382, 390. If the United States could impress a peculiar character upon land within a State after parting with all title to it, at least the clearest expression would be necessary before such a result could be reached. Wright v. Morgan, 191 U. S. 55, 58. But it has not tried to do anything of the sort.

No one would doubt that this title was subject to the same incidents as any other so far as events subsequent to its acquisition were concerned. See Wright v. Morgan, supra. It could be lost by adverse occupation for the time prescribed by state law, and in a State that adopted the common law as to dower it would be subject to dower if the settler subsequently married. The only semblance of ..difficulty is due to the coincidence in time of the acquisition of a separate right by the settler and the beginning of a community right in the wife. But this is by’ no means an extreme illustration of the division of an indivisible instant that is practiced by the law whenever it is necessary. A statute may give a man a right of action against another for causing his death, that accrues to him at the instant that he is vims et mortuus. Higgins v. Central New England & Western R. R. Co., 155 Massachusetts, 176, 179. In the present case the acquisition under the United States law is complete and that law has released its control before the state law lays hold, and, upon grounds in no way connected or interfering with the policy of Congress, brings the community regime into play. The special family relations thus created are. not like contracts with third persons impliedly forbidden by the act of March 3, 1891, c. 561, § 5, 26 Stat. 1097, amending Rev. Stat., § 2290. They are consistent with the policy of the statute which is to enable the settler and his family to secure a home. See § 2291.

Decree affirmed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Wallis v. Pan Am. Petroleum Corp., 384 U.S. 63 (U.S. 1966)
    …our cases, that the transfer of property by the United States to a private party is governed by federal law and only subsequent transfers among private parties are subject to state law. E. g., Wilcox v. Jackson, 13 Pet. 498, 517; Buchser v. Buchser, 231 U. S. 157. Notwithstanding the unchallenged grant of the lease to Wallis, it is apparently argued that this conveyed title subject to outstanding equities in favor of respondents and that federal law retains its initial hold on the lease until existing equiti…
  • Ruddy v. Rossi, 248 U.S. 104 (U.S. 1918)
    …98, 517, to the same effect — a passage also cited and relied upon by. the four justices who disr sented and held that the territorial laws governed even then. It has been repeated ever since. McCune v. Essig, 199 U. S. 382, 390. Buchser v. Buchser, 231 U. S. 157, 161. Coming to the precise issue, the question of the power of the United States to restrict alienation of land within a State after it had conveyed the land in fee was left open in Wright v. Morgan, 191 U. S. 55, 58, but it was said that the clea…
    1 / 2
  • T. A. D. Jones Co. v. Winchester Repeating Arms Co., 61 F.2d 774 (2d Cir. 1932)
    …’s release of that company was a discharge. The land being in Florida, the authoritative interpretation of the Connecticut company’s assignment to the Bayshore Company is to be found in the decisions of the courts of that state. Buchser v. Buchser, 231 U. S. 157, 34 S. Ct. 46, 58 L. Ed. 166; Tyler v. U. S. 281 U. S. 497, 501, 50 S. Ct. 356, 74 L. Ed. 991, 69 A. L. R. 758; Hinde v. Vattier, 5 Pet. 398, 491, 8 L. Ed. 168; Smith v. Staso Mining Co., 18 F.(2d) 736 (C. C. A. 2). In Florida (C. N. H. F. v. Eagle…

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