Board of Com'rs of Creek Co. v. Bartlett

1920 OK 102, 188 P. 655, 77 Okla. 282, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 257
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 9, 1920
Docket8016
StatusPublished

This text of 1920 OK 102 (Board of Com'rs of Creek Co. v. Bartlett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Com'rs of Creek Co. v. Bartlett, 1920 OK 102, 188 P. 655, 77 Okla. 282, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 257 (Okla. 1920).

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

This is an appeal from the district court of Creek county.

The trial was had to the court below without the intervention of a jury and upon a stipulation of the parties as to the facts, and under such stipulation the only question involved is as to the right of the state to tax the homestead of a Creek Indian allottee, *283 after the same has passed out of the hands of the original allottee into the hands of citizens of the United States not citizens of the Creek tribe of Indians, by virtue of bona fide purchase from the original allottees or their legal heirs.

The trial court held that the homestead allotment of a citizen of the Creek Nation that was selected and patent issued therefor prior to taking effect of the provisions of the act of Congress of May 27, 1908, was taken by such allottee upon the condition and with the understanding and agreement that the same should remain nontaxable for a period of 21 years from date of deed therefor, and that such exemption from taxation runs with the land and that such land is exempt from taxation in the state of Oklahoma whether the title remained in the original allottee or duly and legally passed to a non-citizen of the Creek Nation, and that neither the state of Oklahoma nor any municipality thereof has the power to impose taxes upon said homestead.

The trial court also held that where a homestead allotment of a '¡citizen of the Creek Nation was not selected and patent issued therefor until after the provisions of the act of May 27, 1908, were in full force and effect, such homestead was subject to taxation by the state of Oklahoma, or any municipality thereof, after the same had passed into the hands of citizens of the United States, not citizens of the Creek Indian Tribe, by virtue of bona fide purchase from the original allottee or his legal heirs.

The land involved is the homestead allotment of Casakwa Gouge, being the SE% of the SE% of sec. 27, twp. 18 north, range 10 east, who was a minor full-blood Creek citizen, and the NW% of the NE% of sec. 27, twp. 14 north, range 8 east, being the homestead allotment of Leona Lowe, a Creek citizen by blood.

The said Casakwa Gouge was a minor, and her allotment was selected and the patent therefor issued on July 27, 1908, and subsequent thereto she died and her heirs, under the provisions of the act of May 27, 1908, conveyed her homestead to the plaintiff, H. U. Bartlett, who, it is alleged, has the title to the said land, and that the assessor of Creek county assessed said land for the years of 1914 and 1915, and the same was duly and legally placed on the treasurer’s books of Creek county, Oklahoma, and the taxes thereon for said years duly extended upon said books; that the said Leona Lowe was also a minor, and that her allotment was selected and patent issued thereon on March 11, 1903, and subsequent thereto she died, and her heirs have legally and pursuant to law conveyed said land to the plaintiff, H. U. Bartlett, which tract was also assessed and extended upon the tax books of said county for said years.

It was further stipulated:

“That in each of the foregoing deeds, that part of section 7 of said Original Creek Treaty appears as follows: ‘Each citizen shall select from his allotment forty (40) acres of land as a homestead, which shall be non-taxable and inalienable and free from any incumbrance whatever, for twenty-one (21) years, for which he shall have a separate deed, conditioned as above.’ ”

That paragraph 1 of section 16 of said Supplemental Creek Treaty is, in part, as follows:

“Each citizen shall select from his allotment forty (40) acres of land, or a quarter of a quarter section, as a homestead, which shall be and remain nontaxable, inalienable, and free from any incumbrance, whatever, for twenty-one (21) years, from date of the deed therefor, and a separate deed shall be issued to each allottee for his homestead, in which this condition shall appear.”

That section 23 of the Original Creek Treaty provides:

“Any allottee accepting such deed shall be deemed to assent to the allotment and conveyance of all lands of the tribe, as provided herein, and as a relinquishment of all his rights, title and interest in and to the same, except in the proceeds of the lands reserved from allotment.”

That the Supplemental Creek Treaty provides, in section 30 thereof, as follows:

. “This agreement is intended to modify and supplement the agreement ratified by said act of Congress, approved March 1, 1901, aud shall be held to repeal any provision in that agreement or in any prior agreement, treaty or law in conflict herewith.”

It is further stipulated that each of the homestead patents issued to the above alloi-tees contained a provision provided for in paragraph 2 of section 16 of the Supplemental Creek Treaty above quoted. H. U. Bartlett is not a Creek citizen.

It is further stipulated that if the aforesaid lands are taxable, the levy and assessment for the year complained of were in regular form and legally made.

It is further stipulated that the only question raised or intended to be raised in this proceeding is, “Is the homestead of a Creek citizen taxable after it has passed out of the hands of the original allottee prior to the expiration of 21 years after date of the issuance of the patent: first, where the allottee *284 (lies; second, where the allottee voluntarily conveys?”

The findings of the trial court were that the homestead selected by Leona Lowe on March 3, 1903, was exempt from taxation, and the court rendered a judgment accordingly, and from this judgment the defendant, the board of county commissioners of Creek county, has appealed. That the homestead selected by Casakwa Gouge on the 27th day of July, 1908, was taken subject to said act, and that as soon as the restrictions from alienation were removed from said allotment by the death of the allottee and it was alienated by the heirs to the plaintiff herein, and such homestead became immediately taxable and subject to all other civil burdens as though it were the property of any other citizen of the state of Oklahoma, and the court rendered accordingly a judgment in favor of the defendant. Erom this judgment the plaintiff has appealed.

Each party appealing here has made the same assignments of error: (1) That the court erred in overruling motion for new trial; (2) in not rendering judgment in their favor upon the agreed, statement of facts.

The plaintiff, H. U. Bartlett, in support of his contention that the land mentioned is exempt from taxation for the full period of 21 years, as stated in the -Creek Agreement, regardless of the provisions of the act of Congress of May 28, 1908, and regardless of the fact that the title to the land has passed out of the allottee and her heirs into the plaintiff, who is a citizen of the United States and a noncitizen of the Creek Tribe of Indians, cites the Original Creek Agreement, chap. 676, 31 Stat. at L. 861, and Supplemental Creek Agreement, effective August 8, 1902, chap. 13, and 22 St. at L. 500; act of April 26, 1906, chap. 1876, 34 Stat. at L.

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Bluebook (online)
1920 OK 102, 188 P. 655, 77 Okla. 282, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-comrs-of-creek-co-v-bartlett-okla-1920.