settlement

The ending of a controversy by agreement. The determination of an issue or of the correctness of an account. The payment of an obligation. The order made upon a trustee's account, determining the amount of the trust in the hands of the trustee and his liability therefor, decreeing distribution to the parties entitled thereto, and in the case of a continuing trust, re-awarding the body of the trust to the trustee for further administration. 54 Am J1st Trusts § 511. An administrative determination of the amount due from the United States upon a public contract. Illinois Surety Co. v United States, 240 US 214, 221, 60 L Ed 609, 614, 36 S Ct 326. The actual occupation of lands by a pre-emptor for the purpose of obtaining title thereto from the government. 42 Am J1st Pub L § 22. As a prerequisite to the acquisition of public lands of the United States, the term is used as comprehending acts done on the land by way of establishing or preparing to establish an actual personal residence-going thereon and, with reasonable diligence, arranging to occupy it as a home to the exclusion of one elsewhere. The law makes it plain that there must be a definite purpose in good faith to obtain a home by proceeding faithfully and honestly to comply with all the requirements. See Great Northern Railway Co. v Reed, 270 US 539, 545, 70 L Ed 721, 724, 46 S Ct 380. A settlement on public lands of the United States with a view to pre-empt is made by a person who inhabits and improves such land and erects a dwellinghouse thereon, in good faith and with a view and intent of obtaining title to the same by complying with the provisions of the pre-emption law of the United States. See Peterson v First Division St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. 27 Minn 218, 222. See compromise and settlement; equity for a settlement; family settlement; marriage settlement; property settlement.