Sims' Lessee v. Irvine
1799 United States Supreme Court case
Sims's Lessee v. Irvine, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 425 (1799), is an early United States Supreme Court case about conflicting land claims. General William Irvine had been granted Montour's Island by Pennsylvania for his service in the American Revolutionary War, but the island was also claimed by Charles Simms of Virginia. The Court unanimously found in favor of Simms, who had the earlier claim.
The Court held that: "A military right to unappropriated land in America, acquired under a royal proclamation of 1763, was made assignable by the law of Virginia, to an inhabitant of that State.
Obtaining a warrant and so locating it as to describe a particular parcel of land, gave to the assignee a complete equitable title, which was confirmed by the compact between Pennsylvania and Virginia.
A survey in Pennsylvania, and payment of the consideration, gave a legal right of entry, which supports an ejectment. This right remains legal, though it may have originally been held so from a defect of equitable powers, and though the courts of the United States now possess those powers."
See also
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 3
References
External links
Text of Sims's Lessee v.
The public source identifies “Sims' Lessee v. Irvine” as 1799 United States Supreme Court case. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sims', Lessee and Irvine.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sims' Lessee v. Irvine”, the useful work is to connect “1799 United States Supreme Court case” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7521211. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1799 and 1763.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sims' Lessee v. Irvine”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sims' Lessee v. Irvine primary sources, Sims' Lessee v. Irvine archive and Sims' research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sims' Lessee v. Irvine”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sims' Lessee v. Irvine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.