What is the effect of a land patent in transferring public lands to a private owner?

[palani]

From Popular Guide to Modern Legal Principles by Francis W. Marshall, 1953 pg 421

The execution and record of the patent are the final acts of the officers of the government for the transfer of its title, and as they can be lawfully performed only after certain steps have been taken, that instrument, duly signed, countersigned and sealed , not merely operates to pass title, but is in the nature of an official declaration by that branch of the government to which the alienation of the public lands, under the law, is entrusted, that all the requirements preliminary to its issue have been complied with. The presumptions thus attending it are not open to rebuttal in an action at law. It is this unassailable character which gives to it its chief, indeed, its only value, as a means of quieting its possessor in the enjoyment of the lands it embraces.

St. Louis Smelting & Ref. Co. v. Kemp, 104 U.S. 636, quoted by Boah, J., in Le Terre Co v. Billiot's Shell Island, 20 F. Supp. 106, 1937

Note 1 - Is the copy of the patent that is normally recorded by the grantee typically signed, countersigned and sealed or simply the copy that he received when he tendered payment? Does the government copy of the land patent go first to Washington where countersigning and sealing occurs, after which the document is returned to the State?

Note 2 - {not open to rebuttal in an action at law} - 'at law' is common law. Does this statement preclude operations resulting from taxes owed under equity?