Arkansas v. Tennessee
Headline: Court confirms and establishes a fixed boundary between Arkansas and Tennessee based on commissioners’ report, discharges the commissioners, orders certified maps sent to each state, and splits costs equally.
Holding: The Court confirmed and adopted the commissioners’ report locating the Arkansas–Tennessee boundary, declared the marked line the true boundary, discharged the commissioners, and approved their fees.
- Officially fixes the Arkansas–Tennessee border at the locations marked by the commissioners.
- Orders certified copies of the report and map sent to each state's chief magistrate.
- Splits the legal costs equally between Arkansas and Tennessee and approves commissioners' fees.
Summary
Background
The Court had appointed two commissioners, W. H. Green and O. W. Gauss, by an earlier October 14, 1940 decree to locate and mark the boundary between the State of Arkansas and the State of Tennessee. Those commissioners filed a report on February 24, 1941, showing the line they located and an accompanying map. Counsel for both states told the Court they had no exceptions or objections to that report and asked the Court to end the time allowed for filing any objections.
Reasoning
The central question was whether the Court should finalize the commissioners’ work and the line they marked on the ground. The Court terminated the time for objections, confirmed the commissioners’ report in all respects, and declared the marked line to be the true boundary between Arkansas and Tennessee as fixed by the earlier decree. The Court also discharged the commissioners and approved the fees and expenses they stated in the report, and it directed the Clerk to send authenticated copies of the decree, the report, and the map to each state’s chief magistrate.
Real world impact
This decree makes the surveyed and mapped line the official boundary between the two states as determined by the Court’s prior decree. Each state will receive certified copies of the report and map from the Court. The Court ordered that the costs of the proceeding be borne equally by Arkansas and Tennessee, so the states share payment for resolving the boundary.
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