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