Nebraska v. Iowa

Background

Nebraska brought an original action against Iowa over the Missouri River boundary and the construction and enforcement of their 1943 Boundary Compact. The Compact adopted a permanent line based on Corps of Engineers maps because the river’s shifting channels made the old 1892 boundary rule impractical. In 1963 Iowa claimed about thirty river areas and islands on its side of the Compact line; some formed before July 12, 1943, and others formed after. Sections 2 and 3 of the Compact cede lands and require each State to recognize titles, mortgages, and liens that were "good in" the ceding State on the Compact date.

Reasoning

The key question was how to read §§2 and 3 and which law governs lands formed before and after the Compact date. The Court adopted the Special Master’s findings. It held that the Compact’s cession covers areas formed before July 12, 1943, whose private titles were then valid under Nebraska law, and that Iowa must recognize those Nebraska-valid titles without forcing owners to prove the original pre-1943 boundary. For areas formed after 1943, ownership is determined by the law of the State where the land lies as fixed by the Compact boundary. The Court rejected Nebraska’s claim that Nebraska accretion rules could push the Compact boundary back into Iowa.

Real world impact

Owners with titles that were valid in Nebraska on the Compact date can rely on those titles against Iowa for pre-1943 areas. Lands formed after the Compact are decided by the law of the State in which they now lie. The Court declined to issue an injunction against Iowa, leaving state and federal courts to apply this ruling and asking the States to submit a proposed decree or to have the Special Master prepare one.