Harris v. State Ex Rel. Mothersead

1927 OK 81, 254 P. 936, 122 Okla. 271, 1927 Okla. LEXIS 186
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 29, 1927
Docket17801
StatusPublished

This text of 1927 OK 81 (Harris v. State Ex Rel. Mothersead) 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
Harris v. State Ex Rel. Mothersead, 1927 OK 81, 254 P. 936, 122 Okla. 271, 1927 Okla. LEXIS 186 (Okla. 1927).

Opinion

LESTER, J.

This case arose in the dis.-trict court of Muskogee county.

The parties appear here in the inverse order to that in the district court.

The agreed facts of record show that the Central State Bank of Muskogee, Okla., was: closed by order of the State Bank Commissioner on the 18th day of August, 1922. Thatc previous to the closing of said bank it purported' to have title and was the owner off the following described property: S. E. Í4 of the N. E. % and the N. y2 of the N. E. y& of the S. E. Vi of sec. 12, twp. 13 north, range 18 'east, and lots 1 and 2 of sec. 7, andl the E. % of the N. W. % and the W. y2 off the N. E. 14 of section 7* township 13 north, range 19 east, and the S. E. % of the S. W. % and the S. W. % of the S. W. off th'e S. E. %. of section 6, township 13 north, range 19 east, all in Muskogee county, state of Oklahoma.

That subsequent to the closing of said bank, to wit, on or about the 4th day of May, 1926. the State Bank Commissioner attempt *272 ed to convey and transfer the title to the above-described property to these plaintiffs in error, under order of the district court in and for Muskogee county, state of Oklahoma.

The plaintiffs in error refused to accept title to same; whereupon the defendant in error brought suit in the district court of Muskogee county for specific performance of a contract by the terms of which the defendant in error was to convey by deed, under order of the district court of Muskogee county, the property above described, in consideration for which the plaintiffs in error were to pay th'e sum of $8,500 to the defendant Sn error.

Upon trial, the court held that the conveyance by deed from the defendant in error to the plaintiffs in error was in all matters and ways .legal and binding, and gave a judgment against the plaintiffs in error for the sum of $8,500, the agreed purchase price of said property, to which decision the plaintiffs in error objected and duly excepted to the judgment of the court and prosecute this appeal to reverse the .same.

For grounds of error it is urged:

First. That the decision of the trial court is not according to law.

Second. That the decision of the trial court is not sustained by sufficient evidence.

However, the second alleged error of the court is practically abandoned by the plaintiffs in error, and in their brief and argument they say:

“The only contention in this case and the reason for the appeal from the decision of the trial court to this honorable court is that the Supreme Court of the state of Oklahoma has not construed the statute as to whether or not the Bank Commissioner of the state of Oklahoma has the power and authority to execute a deed transferring real property coming into his hands which constituted a portion of the assets of a failed bank, closed upon order of the State Bank Commissioner, and by such deed transfer merchantable title.”

The plaintiffs in error quote a portion of section 9334 of the 1926 Supplement to the Compiled Laws of 1921, which, in part, reads as follows:

“The Commissioners of the Land Office are hereby authorized and empowered to bring or defend suits brought in the name of and in behalf of the state of Oklahoma in all matters affecting the public lands of the state, and in all matters affecting the loans, investing or collecting of school land and' state land mon'eys, of, and belonging to the state. * * *”

The plaintiffs in error raise the query as to whether the last-quoted language is controlling, or section 4166 of the Supplement to. the Compiled Laws of 1921 is to be applied to the sale of real estate such as here involved.

Part of the latter section reads as follows:

“The commissioner shall collect all debts due and claims belonging to it, and upon the order of the district court of the county in which it is doing business may sell or compound all bad 'or doubtful debts, and on like order may sell all its real and x^ersonal property on such terms and at public or private sale, as the court may direct and shall enforce the liabilities of stockholders of such bank. * * *”

Section 1, article 14, of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides:

“General laws shall be 'enacted by the Legislature providing for the creation of a Banking Department, to be under the control of a Bank Commissioner, who shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of four years, by and with the consent of the Senate, with sufficient power and authority to regulate and control all state banks, loan, trust and guaranty companies, under laws which shall provide for th’e protection of depositors and individual stockholders.”

The above constitutional provision simply requires and authorizes the Legislature to do the things mentioned in said constitutional provision.

Section 9334 of the' Supplement to the Compiled Laws of 1921 relates to a class of property wholly foreign to the class of real estate in the hands of the Bank Commissioner for the purpose of administering thereon for the benefit of the depositors and individual stockholders of an insolvent bank. The latter property is simply held by th'e state through its agencies solely for the benefit of the depositors and stockholders of an insolvent bank.

Sovereign ownership is mot contemplated under statutes of our state to such real estate ; the state only acquires an interest to the extent of its trust relationship in said property. It has made the Bank Commissioner the agency through whom such property may be disposed of for the benefit of the creditors and depositors of such failed bank.

Public lands of the state have a fixed and definite status. No one could contend with any degree of reason that the proceeds from the sal'e of the public lahds of the state could be used to discharge the obligations *273 of a privately owned state bank. Contrariwise, no one would contend that the real property of suck state bank could b’e taken by the state, and become public lands of the state.

Section 4165, C. O. S. 1921. provides:

“Whenever any bank or trust company organized or existing und’er the laws of this state shall voluntarily place itself in the hands of the Bank Commissioner, or whenever any judgment shall be rendered by a court of competent 'jurisdiction, adjudging and decreeing that such bank or trust company is insolvent, or whenever its rights or franchise to conduct a banking business under the laws of this state shall have been adjudged to be forfeited, or whenever the Bank Commissioner shall become satisfied of the insolvency of any such bank or trust company, he may. after due examination of its affairs, take possession of said bank or .trust company and its assets, and proceed to wind up its affairs'and enforce the liability of the stockholders, officers, and directors.”

Section 4167, C. O. S. 1921, provides:

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Related

State Ex Rel. Short v. Norman
1922 OK 102 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
1927 OK 81, 254 P. 936, 122 Okla. 271, 1927 Okla. LEXIS 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-state-ex-rel-mothersead-okla-1927.