This writ of error brings up a judgment of the supreme court of Iowa, which affirmed a judgment of the district court of Linn county, in that state, declaring the defendant in error, who was the plaintiff in the suit, to be the owner of the S. W. 1/4 of the N. W. 1/4 of section 19, township 85, range 8 W. of the fifth P. M. 49 N. W. 69.

It is assigned as error that the judgment of the state court deprived the defendant of rights secured to him under the laws of the United States.

The plaintiff, Hayes, claimed title under the swamp land act of congress of September 28, 1850 (9 Stat. 519, c. 84); the defendant, under an act of congress approved May 15, 1856, and the acts amendatory thereof, granting lands to the state of Iowa in aid of the construction of certain railroads (11 Stat. 9, c. 28).

The question of title cannot be fully understood without examining various enactments (federal and state) under which the parties respectively claim the lands in dispute, as well as some of the decisions of this court. We are the more disposed to enter upon this examination because of the statement by counsel in argument that many cases in the [159 U.S. 332, 333] supreme court of the state depend, in whole or in part, on the determination of the questions involved in this suit.

By the swamp land act of 1850, congress granted to Arkansas, to enable it to construct the necessary levees and drains for reclaiming the swamp and overflowed lands within that state, the whole of such lands made unfit thereby for cultivation. Section 1. The act made it the duty of the secretary of the interior to make out, as soon as practicable after its passage, an accurate list and plats of those lands, and transmit it to the governor of the state, and, at the request of the latter, to cause a patent to be issued to the state therefor. On that patent, the act declared, the fee simple to said lands shall vest in the said state of Arkansas, subject to the disposal of the legislature thereof. Section 2. The required list and plats, it was provided, should include all legal subdivisions, the greater part of which were wet and unfit for cultivation, and exclude each subdivision the greater part of which was not of that character. Section 3. The provisions of the act were extended to and their benefits conferred upon each state in which swamp and overflowed lands were situated. Section 4.

The legislature of Iowa authorized the commissioner of the state land office to provide the proofs necessary to secure those lands to the state. Laws Iowa, 1850-51, p. 169, c. 69.

By a subsequent statute of the state, approved January 13, 1853, all the swamp and overflowed lands granted to Iowa were granted to the counties respectively in which they were situated, for the purpose of constructing the necessary levees and drains for reclaiming the same. If it appeared that any of such lands had been sold by the United States after the passage of the act of 1850, the counties in which they lay were authorized to convey to the purchaser; the county court taking from the purchaser an assignment of all his rights in the premises, with authority to receive from the United States the purchase money. Where a county surveyor had made no examination and report of swamp lands within his county, in compliance with instructions from the governor, the county court was directed to appoint a competent person with authority to examine such lands, and make reports and plats to the [159 U.S. 332, 334] county court, which should transmit lists of the lands in each of the counties, in order to procure the proper recognition of the same on the part of the United States, which lists, after an acknowledgment of the same by the general government, were to be recorded. Laws Iowa 1852-53, p. 29, c. 13, 1-3.

A subsequent act, approved January 25, 1855, authorized the governor to draw all moneys due or tha