Boykin v. Southwest Texas Oil & Gas Co.

256 S.W. 581
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedDecember 20, 1923
DocketNo. 418-3263
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 256 S.W. 581 (Boykin v. Southwest Texas Oil & Gas Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boykin v. Southwest Texas Oil & Gas Co., 256 S.W. 581 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1923).

Opinion

HAMILTON, J.

Chapter 160 of the Acts of the Thirty-Third Legislature, p. 336 (Vernon’s Sayles’ Ann. Civ. St. 1914, art. 5423a), provides that:

“In case any of the public free school lands that has been purchased from the state after January 1st, 1907, and prior to January 1st, 1913, on condition of settlement and residence may hereafter be forfeited for the non-payment of interest in the manner now provided by law the owner of such land at the date of forfeiture, provided the forfeiture was made by reason of interest accrued or accruing prior to the passage of this act, shall have the right for a period of ninety days after notice of classification and appraisement of his land, as herein provided, to repurchase any of such tracts, not to exceed one complement of sections upon the terms and conditions prescribed in this act.”
The act provides for an appraisement of the land by a board of appraisers created for that purpose, and that, “if such forfeiting owner desires to repurchase the land at the appraised value placed thereon by said board, he shall file his application therefor in the general land office within ninety days after the date of notice of appraisement.

On May 28, 1912, Boykin purchased sections of land Nos. 148, 150, and 156 from the state. The mineral rights in the land were retained by the state. In due course of time he filed proof of occupancy and improvements. On July 27, 1914, he requested the land commissioner to reappraise the land under the act above noted. On July 30, 1914, the land commissioner forfeited the land for nonpayment of interest. On October 17, 1915, the land was appraised by the boatd above mentioned. ' On January 13, 1916, the land was awarded to Boykin under the statute cited above.

Chapter 173 of the Acts of the Thirty-Third Legislature, p. 409, is an act relating [582]*582to prospecting and developing minerals upon sucli land, among other land, as the state had theretofore sold or might thereafter sell with reservation of the minerals therein, and providing for the issuance of permits for the purpose of prospecting and developing minerals in such land. Section 9 of this act (Vernon’s Sayles’ Ann. Civ. St. 1914, art. 5904h) reads:

“In the event any land of water included within the operation of this act has heretofore been or may hereafter be sold by the state with the reservation of minerals therein, or has been purchased by one with the waiver of mineral rights, such land shall be subject to prospect and lease as set forth in this act, but the owner of the permit or lease shall pay to the owner of the surface of the land twenty cents per acre per annum in advance during the life of the permit or lease and the first payment shall be paid to the commissioner of the general land office, for the use of the owner of the surface, prior to the issuance of such permit, and said sum so paid to the owner of the surface rights shall be in full compensation for all damages to such surface by reason of the ingress and egress and operation necessary to development and the operation under the permit or lease; provided, that if the owner or lessee of the surface will not accept the payment of twenty cents per acre per annum as above provided, and the lessee of the mineral rights cannot agree with such owner or lessee of the surface rights on the compensation to be paid for the use of the damages to such surface rights, then the right thereto and the ingress and egress from such mine or mining claim may be acquired by condemnation as hereinafter provided.”

After the date of the forfeiture of Boykin’s land and before the date of the reawárd of the land to him, the commissioner of the general land office issued permits to prospect for oil and gas on the land — bn sections 148 and 150, September 10, 1915; on section 156, December 1, 1915. .The land commissioner did not collect the 20 cents per acre stipulated in the statute above quoted. Defendant in error, as the holder of these permits, prospected for oil and gas on Boykin’s land. Boykin brought this suit to recover $202.84 alleged to be due him under the provision for the payment of 20 cents per acre to the owner, and for $500 alleged to he the value of the water taken from the well’ bored by defendant in error for use in putting down a well for oil on the land. The ease was tried by the court without a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of Boykin for $202.84. Defendant in error appealed. Boykin filed cross-assignments of error as to the $500 claimed for water. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court, and rendered judgment in favor of defendant in error. 206 S. W. 216. Boykin applied for writ of error, which was granted.

It is to be observed that chapter 160 of the Acts of the Thirty-Third Legislature contains no new provisions for forfeiture of lands. It merely refers to lands “ * * forfeited for the nonpayment of interest in the manner now provided by law,” and gives to the owner of such land at the date of the forfeiture, provided the forfeiture was made by reason of interest accrued or accruing prior to the passage of the act, the “right for a period of ninety days after notice of classification and appraisement of his land to repurchase” it. The forfeiture had to take place under the law as already provided. The forefeiture would therefore be followed by the results and consequences flowing from forfeiture in any other case where it resulted from nonpayment of interest. Forfeiture of purchase for nonpayment of interest is provided for in article 5423, Re-' vised Statutes 1911. By the terms of that article:

“If upon the 1st day of November of any year any portion of the interest due on any obligation remains unpaid, the commissioner of the general land office shall indorse on such obligation, ‘Land Forfeited,’ and shall cause an entry to that effect to be made on the account kept with the purchaser; and thereupon said land shall thereby be forfeited to the state without the necessity of re-entry or judicial ascertainment, and shall revert to the particular fund to which it originally belonged, and be resold under the provisions of this chapter, or any future law.”

Under that article, the act of the land commissioner in forfeiting the purchase of land has the effect of restoring the land to the public domain of the state. The provision that “the purchasers, or their vendees, may have their claims reinstated on their written request, by paying into the treasury the full amount of interest due on such claim up to the date of reinstatement, provided that no rights of third persons may have intervened” in no way weakens or affects the proposition that a forfeiture restores the land to the public domain and reinvests the title in the state. Lawless v. Wright, 39 Tex. Civ. App. 26, 86 S. W. 1039 (writ of error refused); Jones v. Robison, 104 Tex. 70, 133 S. W. 879. Likewise, we think the provision in chapter 160 of the Acts of the Thirty-Third Legislature that the “owner of such land at the date of forfeiture * * * shall have the right for a period of ninety days after notice of classification and appraisement of his land * * * to repurchase” it, “in no way weakens or affects the proposition that forfeiture restores the land to the public domain and reinvests the title in the state.” This seems to be the view of our Supreme Court. While wé have found no case directly in point, expressions by the court in Judkins v. Robison, 109 Tex. 6, 160 S. W. 955, are convincing that the above holding is in line with the views of that court. In that! opinion, speaking of chapter 160, supra, Justice Phillips says:

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Bluebook (online)
256 S.W. 581, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boykin-v-southwest-texas-oil-gas-co-texcommnapp-1923.