REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 439 



Actions of this kind heretofore brought have frequently been based upon two 

 propositions, the one being that certain irregularities were jurisdictional in their 

 nature, and the other that the act itself was' unconstitutional in that it deprived 

 owners of their property without due process of law, more especially for the reason 

 that the time prescribed by the statute for the commencement of actions was too 

 brief; and, for the further alleged reason that, so far as the State is concerned, no 

 provision has been made for suing the State. 



Mr. Turner, the plaintiff in error, first had litigation with the State concerning the 

 State's title to the land known as Lot No. 219, Township No. 10, Franklin county. 

 In this action he was defeated. The case is reported in 1 1 7 N. Y., 227. The land in 

 controversy in the action which went to the Supreme Court of the United States, 

 consisted of about 7,500 acres, being the southeast quarter of Township No. 24, Great 

 Tract 1, Macomb's Purchase, Town of Harrietstown, Franklin county. These lands 

 were bought by the State upon a tax sale held October 12, 1877, for unpaid taxes for 

 the years 1866 to 1870, inclusive, and were conveyed to the State by a Comptroller's 

 deed, dated June 9, 1 881, recorded June 8, 1882. Mr. Turner obtained a deed of 

 this property from one John B. Reilly, December 27, 1886, Reilly having secured a 

 conveyance the same year from the heirs of one Norton, who owned the property at 

 the time of the tax sale. Turner, also, upon June 8, 1887, bought the premises at a 

 sheriff's sale upon a judgment obtained against the former owner of the land ten years 

 before, and attempted to denude the land of the timber upon it. In an action of 

 replevin brought against Turner, in the name of the People, through the Forest Com- 

 mission, to recover the timber which he had cut upon these lands, he defended, alleging 

 that the title of the State was invalid. 



Having been defeated in all the State Courts (People v. Turner, 145 N. Y., 

 451) the case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, which 

 Court held by unanimous vote, that the statute under consideration was in no 

 way in contravention of the Federal Constitution. Mr. Turner thereafter made 

 an application for a re-argument in that Court, which was denied ; and, subse- 

 quently, upon the filing of the mandate of the Supreme Court of the United 

 States with the Court of Appeals, made an application for re-argument in this Court, 

 which was also denied January 18, 1898. It is believed that the decisions of this case 

 will quiet the title of the State to the lands in the Forest Preserve, and, it is hoped, 

 will prevent further litigation upon that question. (A copy of the opinion of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States in this case is appended.) 



Since the above decision the matter in controversy has been definitely settled in 

 favor of the State in the case of The People ex rel. The Forest Commission vs. 

 Campbell, Comptroller. 



