Sol #1214: Lavery held parcel-specific priority — not wholesale railway-lease invalidation

Sol Finding #1214 recovers the original reasoned opinion behind the citation in the 1915 Indian Service letter: *Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Co. v. Lavery*, 75 Hun 396–401 (General Term, January 1894), affirmed “on opinion below” at 149 N.Y. 576 (April 21, 1896).

This was an ejectment contest over one piece of land, not a determination of every acre in the railway’s later-reported 30-acre tract. The referee’s unchallenged facts traced Charles Snow’s July 1866 lease to Allen McDonald → Lawrence Cere → William Dinter (~1872) → March 12, 1880 twelve-year renewal at $5 yearly → May 1889 transfer to Georgia Lavery → 99-year Nation lease. The railway traced a rival June 7, 1872 Cattaraugus Railway lease and 1880 Rochester & State Line succession.

Justice Bradley held that New York’s 1836 railroad-consent statute could not, without federal authority, validate reservation-land grants; both claims drew effect from federal action (including the February 19, 1875 act), and Lavery’s antecedent occupation and statutory renewal defeated the railway’s ejectment claim on these facts. The lower court dismissed the railway’s complaint (May 22, 1893); General Term and Court of Appeals affirmed. That is parcel-specific priority — not invalidation of the entire 30-acre railway lease.

Separation held: Lavery opinion ≠ #1213 overlap rent classification ≠ #1212 arrears snapshot. The original opinion also identifies a distinct October 23, 1873 Seneca Nation ejectment judgment against William Dinter, which Sol is tracing separately. Repo: 1894-lavery-seneca-railway-individual-lease-priority.