Peters v. Broward

Background

Richard G. Peters claims equitable title to about two hundred thousand acres of Florida swamp and overflowed land that trace back to a federal grant of September 28, 1850. State law had placed title to those swamp lands in the Governor and four other officials as Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund. Peters’ claim rests on a Florida law of May 24, 1893, which purported to incorporate the Atlantic, Suwanee River and Gulf Railway Company and to grant land to the company as an aid for building railroad lines. The railroad built about twenty miles and obtained certificates, surveys, and filed for deeds, but the trustees later refused and sold most of the land to third parties.

Reasoning

The core question was whether the 1893 act actually became a valid law that could grant public lands. The Florida Supreme Court, in an earlier case involving the same act, examined the legislature’s journals and held that the journal title did not indicate a grant of public land. Under Florida law, when the journal title differs from the enrolled title, the journal controls, and an act cannot include subjects not shown in the journal. Because that state decision made the land-grant provisions invalid, the Trustees had no authority to issue certificates, locate lands, or execute deeds based on that act.

Real world impact

The practical result is that the railway’s claimed title under the 1893 law fails in court. Purchasers who received the lands from the Trustees remain in possession, and the bill seeking a trust or a deed was dismissed. The opinion notes the hardship on the railway and its assigns who spent money relying on the law, but says relief is for the Florida legislature to provide. The Circuit Court’s decree dismissing the bill was affirmed.