## Facts

- Speculative purchasers obtained deeds in 1773 and 1775 directly from the Illinois and Piankeshaw tribes for land in the Northwest Territory.
- The plaintiffs, as successors in interest and lessors in an ejectment action, claimed superior title under those tribal conveyances.
- The defendant claimed the same land under a later federal land patent issued by the United States in 1818.
- The U.S. District Court for the District of Illinois entered judgment for the defendant, ruling that title derived from direct tribal grants to private parties was not valid against a federal patent.
- The plaintiffs appealed; the Supreme Court heard the case on the validity of the competing chains of title.

## Issues

1. Whether a land title acquired by private individuals directly from Native American tribes is legally cognizable in U.S. courts when it conflicts with a later grant from the United States.
2. Whether, under federal law, tribes held a transferable ownership interest sufficient to convey fee title to private purchasers.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed judgment for the defendant.
- The Court held that private individuals cannot obtain valid title to tribal lands by direct purchase from Native American tribes.
- The Court concluded that only the sovereign power (and, after independence, the United States) held the exclusive authority to acquire tribal lands and to extinguish tribal occupancy.
- Because the plaintiffs’ chain of title rested on direct tribal conveyances, it could not defeat the later federal patent.

## Legal Principles

- Under the doctrine of discovery, the discovering sovereign acquired ultimate title as against other European powers and the exclusive right to acquire land from Indigenous inhabitants.
- Tribes retained a protected right of occupancy and use, but not a fully alienable title transferable to private parties.
- Tribal occupancy could be extinguished only by the sovereign, including by purchase or conquest; private purchases from tribes are void in U.S. courts.
- Courts must treat the sovereign’s asserted title arising from conquest and long-settled political arrangements as controlling in adjudicating private property disputes.

## Conclusion

The Court held that direct purchases of land from Native American tribes by private individuals cannot be recognized as valid titles in U.S. courts; the United States holds ultimate title and the exclusive power to acquire tribal lands and extinguish tribal occupancy, making a federal patent superior to a competing private deed from a tribe.


Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823)