Kennedy v. United States

In this action it was ordered, adjudged and decreed by the District Court “That defendant be and hereby is enjoined and restrained from occupying and grazing livestock on land embraced within” a certain designated survey township in the State of Arizona.

The defendant below appeals upon two grounds. One of the grounds of appeal is that the court was and is without jurisdiction because, as he asserts, the issue of the case lies solely within the jurisdiction of the Land Department of the Federal Government, and cites Cameron v. United States, 252 U.S. 450 , 40 S.Ct. 410 , 64 L.Ed. 659 , as authority. We do not consider that the cited case pronounces such doctrine, and we are convinced that the appellant is wrong in his contention.

In the Cameron case it was held that an issue as to whether or not land of the public domain was mineral, tried before the Land Department and held to be non-mineral, was not to be relitigated in an action brought by the Government to oust the claimant from possession of the land. This case, however, supports the jurisdiction of the District Court in entertaining a case to enjoin the occupancy of public land sought to be used by the Government for…