Sims' Lessee v. Irvine
Sims’s Lessee v. Irvine (1799) is an early U.S. Supreme Court case about who owned Montour’s Island when two people claimed it. General William Irvine had received the island from Pennsylvania for his Revolutionary War service, but Charles Simms of Virginia also claimed it. The Court unanimously sided with Simms, who had the earlier claim.
The Court explained that a military right to unclaimed land granted by the 1763 royal proclamation could be transferred under Virginia law to a Virginia resident. If a person obtained a warrant and described a specific parcel of land, that gave them a full equitable title, supported by the agreement between Pennsylvania and Virginia. A survey in Pennsylvania and payment for the land gave a legal right to enter and possess the land, which supports a lawsuit to recover possession (ejectment). This legal right remains valid even if it started from weaker equitable powers, and even though today the United States courts can enforce such rights.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:09 (CET).