This is a bill in equity brought by the United States to remove a cloud from its alleged title to two islands, numbered 1 and 2, in the Sault Ste. Marie, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The islands are in the rapids of the river or strait, on the American side of the Canada boundary line, and near to a strip of shore lying between the rapids and the United States ship canal referred to in United States v. Michigan, 190 U.S. 379, 47 L. ed. 1103, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 742. The defendant claims this strip and the islands under a patent from the United States, dated December 15, 1883, describing that land as bounded by the river St. Mary on the east, north, and west. The United States says that the patent was void because the land had been reserved for public purposes; and that, even if it was valid, the islands did not pass. The defendant replies that the land was not reserved, and also sets up the statute of limitations. Act of March 3, 1891, chap. 561, § 8. 26 Stat. at L. 1099. The circuit court dismissed the bill, and its decree was affirmed by the circuit court of appeals. 81 C. C. A. 221, 152 Fed. 25.
There is force in the contention of the United States that the land was reserved and that it had not been surveyed, but we find it unnecessary to state or pass upon the arguments, because we are of opinion that now the patent must be assumed to be good. The statute just referred to provides that 'suits by the United States to vacate and annul any patent heretofore issued shall only be brought within five years from the passage of this act,'-that is to say, from March 3, 1891. This land, whether reserved or not, was public land of the United States, and in kind open to sale and conveyance through the Land Department. United States v. Winona & St. P. R. Co. 165 U.S. 463, 476, 41 L. ed. 789, 795, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 368. The patent had been issued in 1883 by the President in due form and in the regular way. Whether or not he had authority to make it, the United States had power to make it or to validate it when made, since the interest of the United States was the only one concerned. We can see no reason for doubting that the statute, which is the voice of the United States, had that effect. It is said that the instrument was void and hence was no patent. But the statute presupposes an instrument that might be declared void. When it refers to 'any patent heretofore issued,' it describes the purport and source of the document, not its legal effect. If the act were confined to valid patents it would be almost or quite without use. Leffingwell v. Warren, 2 Black, 599, 17 L. ed. 261.
In form the statute only bars suits to annul the patent. But statutes of limitation, with regard to land, at least, which cannot escape from the jurisdiction, generally are held to affect the right, even if in terms only directed against the remedy. Leffingwell v. Warren, 2 Black, 599, 605, 17 L. ed. 261, 263; Sharon v. Tucker, 144 U.S. 533, 36 L. ed. 532, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 720; Davis v. Mills, 194 U.S. 451, 457, 48 L. ed. 1067, 1071, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 692. This statute must be taken to mean that the patent is to be held good, and is to have the same effect against the United States that it would have had if it had been valid in the first place. See United States v. Winona & St. P. R. Co. 165 U.S. 463, 476, 41 L. ed. 789, 795, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 368.
We waste no time upon suggestions of bad faith on the one side or the other, as there is no sufficient warrant for them, and as they were touched rather than pressed at the argument. The only other question is whether the United States has title to the islands, notwithstanding its patent and notwithstanding the incorporation of Michigan as a state. The bill admits and alleges that the bed of the river, or strait, surrounding the islands, passed to Michigan when Michigan became a state (Pollard v. Hagan, 3 How. 212, 11 L. ed. 565; Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 38 L. ed. 331, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 548), subject to the same public trusts and limitations as lands under tide waters on the borders of the sea (Illinois C. R. Co. v. Illinois, 146 U.S. 387, 36 L. ed. 1018, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 110). But it sets up that the islands remained the property of the United States, and it argues that, in such circumstances, the islands did not pass by the patent of the neighboring land.