America's conservatives support Seattle's police-free zone

There was never a land patent issued on Federal property. It never changed hands. The Bundys did own an easement over the property and easements go with the land. Even if the government sold the land, the Bundys would still have easement rights. Easement rights are a real thing. The Bundys are not pretending anything.

 

The law is based upon the Statute of Frauds codified into common law by Parliament in 1677 and has not been changed since that time in either English or American law. The land under burden of the easement never changed ownership and has never been issued a federal patent. The original easements granted by the Federal Government in 1850 were granted to the Bundy family, their heirs and their assigns and the easements went with the land. If you buy the land, you also buy the easements benefiting the land. This is really basic land law.

 

Easements are binding contracts for the use of a piece of property for a specific purpose, in this case grazing. Easements can only be extinguished by the beneficiary of the easement quits his claim to the easement or buys the land outright and the easement disappears under the Doctrine of Merger. An easement cannot be extinguished unilaterally by the party that is burdened by the easement.

 

The term fee refers to a deed or some other written conveyance. The United States owned the land based upon the principle of our army is better than your army. The land, with very few exceptions such as the Gadsden Purchase and a few Spanish land grants has always been owned by the federal Government without the benefit of a deed. No deed means there is no fee simple ownership.