Opinion of the Court.

habeas corpus issued by this court. Ex parte Parks, 93 U. S. 18; Ex parte Reed, 100 U. S. 13, 23; Ex parte Siebold, 100 U. S. 371, 375; Ex parte Carll, 106 U. S. 521; Ex parte Wilson, 114 U. S. 417, 421.

The same doctrine applies to the Circuit Court in the present case in its review on habeas corpus of the proceedings before the commissioner; and it has been applied by this court on appeals to it from inferior courts in habeas corpus proceedings. Benson v. McMahon, 127 U. S. 457, 461, 462; In re Coy, 127 U. S. 731, 758, 759; Hans Nielsen, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 176, 182, 184; Savin, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 267, 279; Cuddy, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 280, 285. The case of Savin, Petitioner, supra, was an appeal from an order of a Circuit Court of the United States dismissing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, where the party had been imprisoned for contempt of court by a District Court of the United States. This court said, speaking by Mr. Justice Harlan, “Our conclusion is that the District Court had jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the person, and that irregularities, if any, occurring in the mere conduct of the case, do not affect the validity of its final order. Its judgment, so far as it involved mere errors, cannot be reviewed in this collateral proceeding, and must be affirmed."

These views are conclusive to show that

The order of the Circuit Court must be affirmed, and it is so ordered.

Statement of the Case.

INDIANA v. KENTUCKY.

ORIGINAL.

No. 2. Original. Argued April 9, 10, 1890. — Decided May 19, 1890.

The waters of the Ohio River, when Kentucky became a State, flowed in a channel north of the tract known as Green River Island, and the jurisdiction of Kentucky at that time extended, and ever since has extended, to what was then low-water mark on the north side of that channel, and the boundary between Kentucky and Indiana must run on that line, as nearly as it can now be ascertained, after the channel has been filled. The dominion and jurisdiction of a State, bounded by a river, continue as they existed at the time when it was admitted into the Union, unaffected by the action of the forces of nature upon the course of the river. Long acquiescence by one State in the possession of territory by another State, and in the exercise of sovereignty and dominion over it, is conclusive of the title and rightful authority of the latter State.

IN EQUITY, to settle and determine the boundary line between the States of Indiana and Kentucky.

On the 20th day of December, 1783, the legislature of Virginia by statute authorized and empowered the delegates of the State in the Congress of the United States "for and on behalf of this State, by proper deeds or instrument in writing, under their hands and seals, to convey, transfer, assign and make over unto the United States, in Congress assembled, for the benefit of the said States, all right, title and claim, as well of soil as jurisdiction, which this Commonwealth hath to the territory or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio."

On the 1st of March, 1784, the delegates from that State in Congress executed and delivered to "the United States in Congress assembled "a deed of "all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction, which the said Commonwealth hath to the territory or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio." This deed was, on the same day, accepted by Congress, and was spread at length upon its records.

Statement of the Case.

On the 13th of July, 1787, Congress enacted an ordinance. which was entitled "An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio." There were no words of description in this ordinance except those contained in its title.

In 1788 the legislature of Virginia, by an act which recited the passage of this ordinance, enacted: "that the afore-recited article of compact between the original States and the people and States in the territory north west of Ohio river be, and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed, anything to the contrary in the deed of cession of the said territory by this Commonwealth to the United States notwithstanding."

The first Congress assembled under the Constitution enacted, on the 7th August, 1789, "An act to provide for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio." These words of description were repeated in the act; but there were no other words of description. 1 Stat. 50.

On the 18th December, 1789, the legislature of Virginia passed an act consenting "that the district of Kentucky, within the jurisdiction of said Commonwealth, and according to its actual boundaries at that time, should be formed into a new State." By that act it was further provided that "the use and navigation of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the proposed State, or the territory which shall remain within. the limits of this Commonwealth, lies therein, shall be free and common to the citizens of the United States; and the respective jurisdictions of this Commonwealth and of the proposed State, on the river aforesaid, shall be concurrent only with the States which shall possess the opposite shores of the said river."

On the 26th May, 1790, Congress established a territorial government over "the territory of the United States south of the river Ohio;" 1 Stat. 123; but on the 4th of February, 1791, 1 Stat. 189, it gave its consent to the admission of Kentucky into the Union, "according to its actual boundaries on the 18th day of December, 1789," the date of the passage of the act of the legislature of Virginia.

On the 7th May, 1800, an act was passed "to divide the

Statement of the Case.

territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio into two separate governments." 2 Stat. 58.

On the 30th April, 1802, the enabling act for the admission of Ohio was passed, the Ohio River being made the southern boundary. 2 Stat. 173. By this act everything west of the present boundary of Ohio, and east of the division line established by the act of 1800 was "made a part of the Indiana Territory."

On the 3d February, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was separated from the Territory of Indiana, the Wabash River being the boundary. 2 Stat. 514. And, on the 19th April, 1816, the enabling act for Indiana was passed, in which it was enacted that the State should be bounded "on the south by the river Ohio, from the mouth of the Great Miami River to the mouth of the river Wabash." 3 Stat. 289.

The controversy in this case related to the jurisdiction over the Green River Island, a formation in the river on the Indiana side opposite the mouth of the Green River, entering the Ohio from Kentucky; and the claims of Indiana in respect to it are fully stated in the brief and argument of its counsel. Some of the main issues were issues of fact, concerning which there was a large amount of proof. No good purpose can be served by further reference to it.

An act passed by the legislature of Kentucky in 1873, and an Indiana statute following it in 1875 and the proceedings under the latter were relied upon by the State of Kentucky. These acts are printed in the margin.1

1" AN ACT to fix and determine the boundary line between the States of Indiana and Kentucky above and near Evansville.

"WHEREAS, Difficulty has arisen between the owners of land in Indiana and Kentucky in regard to the boundary line between said States, and [said] difficulty involves the title to large tracts of land at or near the line between Green River Island and the State of Indiana; therefore,

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, "§ 1. That the Governor of the State be, and is hereby empowered and directed, to select a commissioner, who shall be a resident of Kentucky, and a practical surveyor, who shall act with a similar person selected by the Governor of the State of Indiana, and such persons so selected shall make a survey of the line dividing said States, beginning at the head of the VOL. CXXXVI-31

Argument for the State of Indiana.

Mr. Alpheus E. Snow and Mr. Joseph E. McDonald (with whom was Mr. John M. Butler on the brief) for the State of Indiana.

island known as Green River Island opposite, or nearly so, from the mouth of Green River; running thence in a direction down the Ohio River to the lower end of said island, upon a line dividing said island and the State of Kentucky from the State of Indiana. Said commissioners shall consult the surveys originally made by the United States government, if there be more than one, and they be not inconsistent with each other, and said commissioners shall be governed in running said line by such survey or surveys made by the government of the United States. Within ten days after such survey, said commissioners shall reduce said survey to writing, causing the metes and bounds and land-marks to be particularly described, and sign the same, and acknowledge the same before any officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds, and duplicates of such written statements of survey, signed and acknowledged by the commissioners, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the Henderson County Court, and in the auditor's office of Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties, Indiana; and such written statement, or a copy duly certified by the clerk of the said Henderson County Court, shall be conclusive evidence of the said line dividing said island, so called, from said State of Indiana, in any of the courts of this State.

66

"§ 2. The commissioners to be appointed under this act shall report to the Governor, in writing, the result of the survey together with a plat of the same; and when said survey shall have been completed, the commissioner shall file his account with the Governor, and when the same shall be examined and approved by him, the Auditor of Public Accounts is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the Treasury for said amount in favor of the commissioner appointed: Provided, however, said amount shall not exceed the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.

"§ 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from its passage. Approved April 21, 1873." 1 Sess. Laws 1873, 51, c. 964.

The statute of the State of Indiana of February 27, 1875, referred to in the cross-bill was as follows:

"AN ACT to ascertain the location of the boundary line between the State of Indiana and Kentucky, above and near Evansville, and making the same evidence in any dispute, and declaring an emergency. (Approved February 27, 1875.)

“WHEREAS, Difficulty and dispute have arisen between the owners of land in Indiana and Kentucky, in regard to the boundary line between said States, and said difficulty involves the title to large tracts of land above, near the line between the Green River Island and the State of Indiana:

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, that the Governor be and is hereby empowered and directed to select a commissioner, who shall be a resident of the State of Indiana and a prac