C. C. Julian Oil & Royalties Co. v. Oklahoma City

1934 OK 88, 29 P.2d 952, 167 Okla. 384, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 529
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 20, 1934
Docket21722
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 1934 OK 88 (C. C. Julian Oil & Royalties Co. v. Oklahoma City) 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
C. C. Julian Oil & Royalties Co. v. Oklahoma City, 1934 OK 88, 29 P.2d 952, 167 Okla. 384, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 529 (Okla. 1934).

Opinion

ANDREWS, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court of Oklahoma county enjoining the plaintiff in error, the -defendant in the trial court, from proceeding with the drilling of a well for oil or gas on property within the corporate limits of the city of Oklahoma City. The judgment was based on a finding that the defendant was violating a provision of city ordinance No. 3944 in that it was drilling a well for oil or gas without furnishing the bond required by a provision of that ordinance, as follows:

“No permit for the drilling or putting down of any petroleum or natural gas well shall be issued to any person, firm or corporation, and no well for which permit has been heretofore issued, shall be drilled into any producing oil or gas horizon, until there shall be filed with the city clerk ,of the city of Oklahoma City a good and sufficient bond covering each well for which permit is applied, and executed by some bonding or indemnity company authorized to do business in the state of Oklahoma, running in the name of Oklahoma City and conditioned that the applicant will pay and discharge any liability imposed by law for damages on account of injury to property, either private or public, or bodily injury, including death, received or suffered by any person or persons, firm or corporation, and resulting from the drilling, operation or maintenance of any well or any structures, equipment, machinery, tanks, pipe lines or appurtenances thereto, and will abide by and comply with all the provisions of this ordinance : said bond shall be approved by the city council. The maximum total liability, under said bond, for loss or damage, either to person or property, shall be $200,000. Such bond shall be made for a period of not less than one year, and a new’ hond shall be furnished at the expiration of any existing one, if the operation of such well *386 covered thereby is continued. If at the time of such renewal all drilling on such well has been completed, the amount of total liability, under such bond, may be reduced to $50,-000. * * *”

The record shows that at the time the judgment was rendered, the well was practically completed. The judgment restrained the defendant “from 'drilling, continuing to drill, oil attempting to drill an oil or gas well on block two (2), Frost Heights addition,” until the further order of the court.

The defendant contends that the ordinance was retroactive and therefore inoperative and void as against its previously acquired vested rights. It is in error in making that contention. While it had a right to drill a well for oil or gas, the city, under! its police power pursuant to the provisions of chapter 178, Session Laws 1928, was authorized to impose restrictions upon the exercise of that right, and those restrictions were lawfully imposed, even though the' ordinance was enacted after the drilling of the well had been commenced. We quote from 43 Corpus Juris, section 266, page 60, as follows:

“The police power of a municipal corporation being a continuing one, a permit does not exempt applicant from the operation of subsequent ordinances and regulations legally enacted by the corporation in the exercise of its police powers.”

To the same effect are Wilder v. Little Rock (Ark.) 234 S. W. 479, and Dobbins v. Los Angeles, 195 U. S. 223, 49 L. Ed. 169, 25 Sup. Ct. 18. In Ex parte Carlson (Cal.) 262 P. 792, it was held:

“While the right to engage in a lawful and useful occvipation cannot be taken away under the guise of regulation, such occupation may be subjected to regulation in the public interest, even though the exercise of power to regulate involves in some degree a limitation upon the exercise of the right regulated.”
“The manner and extent of the regulation of occupations for the public interest are matters primarily for legislative determination, with which the courts cannot interfere unless it clearly appears that a statute enacted ostensibly for the purpose of regulation imposes an arbitrary and unreasonable burden upon the pursuit of the occupation,”

The right of the state to regulate the drilling of. wells for oil or gas has been determined by a number of courts. Marrs et al. v. City, of Oxford et al., 32 Fed. (2d) 134; Osford Oil Co. v. Atlantic Oil & Producing Co., 22 Fed. (2d) 597; Ohio Oil Co. v. Indiana, 177 U. S. 190, 44 L. Ed. 729, 20 Sup. Ct. 576. By the provisions of section 6410, O. S. 1931, the state has delegated to cities the power and right “to enact and make all such ordinances, by-laws, rules, and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the state as may be expedient for maintaining the peace, good government, and welfare of the city and its trade and commerce.” The provision of the charter of the plaintiff granting power to the city to enact and enforce all ordinances necessary to protect health, lives, and property, is within the grant of power delegated and not inconsistent with the laws of the state. Chapter 178, Session Laws 1923, confers upon municipalities the right of regula ling and restricting the use of property within the corporate limits by enacting a proper zoning ordinance to govern same.

The defendant contends that the provision of the ordinance requiring the bond is void. In McCurley v. City of El Reno et al., 138 Okla. 92, 280 P. 467, this court held:

“Where a city, intending to adopt, at the earliest practicable time, a permanent, comprehensive zoning ordinance, passes a temporary ordinance for .the purpose of measurably controlling building during the interim in order that the benefits of the proposed zoning ordinance may not be lost, and when such temporary ordinance is attacked as unreasonable and arbitrary, this court will apply a liberal rule of construction not only to such ordinance itself, but also to the power of the city council to promulgate the same.”

Therein this court quoted from Miller et al. v. Board of Public Works of City of Los Angeles et al. (Cal.) 234 P. 381, wherein that court held:

“ ‘It is a matter of common knowledge that a comprehensive zoning plan cannot be made in a day, and therefore court may take judicial notice that it will take much time to work out details of plan, and that it would be destructive if, duriug incubation of plan, parties should be permitted to enter on course of construction which might defeat ultimate execution of plan.
“ ‘That a comprehensive zoning plan had not matured to point of being an existing ordinance at time that an emergency zoning ordinance was enacted does not detract from validity of emergency zoning ordinance, on theory that zoning ordinance may not be ultimately enforced, as presumption that council will not fail in performance of official duty must prevail, and hence such emergency zoning ordinance, being part of comprehensive plan which has relation to wel *387 fare of city, must be held to be a valid exercise of police power.’ ”

—and wherein that court said:

The police power of a state is an indispensable prerogative of sovereignty and one that is not to be lightly limited.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Opinion No.
Oklahoma Attorney General Reports, 2006
Vinson v. Medley
1987 OK 41 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1987)
Adkins v. City of West Frankfort
51 F. Supp. 532 (E.D. Illinois, 1943)
Oklahoma City v. Johnson
1938 OK 464 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Royal Baking Co. v. Oklahoma City
1938 OK 75 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1938)
Shinn v. Oklahoma City
1936 OK CR 98 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1936)
Ex Parte Biggs
1935 OK CR 82 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1935)
Keaton v. Brown
1935 OK 207 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
Courter Oil Co. v. Oklahoma City
1934 OK 209 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)
Morgan Petroleum Co. v. Oklahoma City
1934 OK 216 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)
Hud Oil & Refining Co. v. Oklahoma City
1934 OK 94 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1934 OK 88, 29 P.2d 952, 167 Okla. 384, 1934 Okla. LEXIS 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/c-c-julian-oil-royalties-co-v-oklahoma-city-okla-1934.