Wright v. Morgan

Background

The dispute involves the mayor suing in his own name to recover land that had been patented to the mayor in trust for the city of Denver under an 1872 act of Congress. The United States patent and a later 1890 act are in the record. The city paid for the land, received a patent purporting to convey to the “mayor in trust for said city and to his successors,” and later the city’s mayor executed a deed in 1874 conveying part of the land to the Roman Catholic bishop of Denver after the council approved a report and the city received payment. The land at issue was later sold to others and has not been used for burial.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether Congress’s act or the patent made the land inalienable and whether the city held legal title and could convey it. The Court found that the patent and its ratification vested an absolute title in the city, that the statute of uses executed the trust, and that the patent and acts did not clearly restrict ordinary incidents of title. The deed to the bishop was treated as effectively creating a fee, the city had the power to sell under its charter, and technical irregularities in execution did not defeat the purchasers after payment and long occupation.

Real world impact

The practical result is that the mayor cannot recover the land in his personal suit and the purchasers’ titles are upheld. The Court did not decide how state law would limit municipal powers in other circumstances, and it declined to treat the congressional grant as imposing an inalienable common-law condition without very clear words. The judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals is affirmed.