Hjorth Royalty Company v. Trustees of University

222 P. 9, 30 Wyo. 309, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 68
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 8, 1924
DocketNo. 1049
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 222 P. 9 (Hjorth Royalty Company v. Trustees of University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hjorth Royalty Company v. Trustees of University, 222 P. 9, 30 Wyo. 309, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 68 (Wyo. 1924).

Opinion

Arnold, District Judge.

The appellant was petitioner and the appellee was defendant below.

The suit was commenced to quiet title to the NE% of Sec. 32, Twp. 40 N, R'. 79 W. 6th P. M. The petition is in the ordinary form of an action to quiet title; plaintiffs claim- ■ ing a legal estate in said lands as an oil placer mining claim subject to the paramount title of the United States, and further stating that the defendant claims an estate or interest in said lands, but that the said claim is without any right or claim of right. A demurrer was filed to the petition on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant or the subject of the action, and that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The demurrer was sustained on the theory that the suit is in effect a suit against the state, which has title to the lands, and that no right to sue the state has been granted by the Legislature. The appellant refusing to plead further, judgment was rendered for respondent, from which this appeal has been taken. It may be doubtful whether the title or claim to the land adverse to that of appellant is sufficiently set forth in the petition to raise the question which furnishes the basis of the decision of the trial court. But it was conceded on the argument of this case that the land in question is part of the seventy-two sections of land mentioned in Sec. 8 of the Act of Admission of Wyoming, being land granted to the state for the benefit of a university, and which is part of the same land considered in the case of Wm. B. Ross, Governor, et al., vs. the Trustees of [313]*313the University of Wyoming, decided tbis date. And the contention of appellant is that the title to land held under the said section of said Act of Admission is vested, not in the state, but in the Trustees of the University, of Wyoming as a corporate body; that the land is mineral land and could not validly be acquired by said Trustees under said Act of Admission, and that the said Trustees as a corporate body may be sued. The case having been determined below in view of the facts and on the theory mentioned, and these facts being admitted here, we may waive any defect in the allegations of the petition, and determine the case as though these facts had been alleged therein.

The questions herein are whether the title to the lands granted under the provisions of the act of admission above mentioned is in the state or in the Trustees of the University, and whether the defendant in this kind of §n action is entitled to the same privilege that the State of Wyoming could assert by reason of the Legislature not having made provision for such suits under the Constitution which declares :

‘ ‘ Suits may be brought against the State in such manner and in such courts as the Legislature may by law direct.” (Article 1, Sec. 8, Constitution.)

The general rule appears to be that such provisions are not self-executing, and no suit can be maintained against the State until the Legislature has made provision therefor (36 Cyc. 913), and no consent having been given by the State it is evident that this suit could not be maintained against the State, therefore we need now only to consider the question whether this suit constitutes a suit against the State.

The attorney for the appellant in his brief and argument calls the attention of this court to the distinction between the powers vested by the Legislature in the said corporate body and those possessed by the managing agents and officers of the other state institutions of Wyoming. He refers [314]*314to the construction which the trustees of the University place upon their powers by contending among other things that they have “absolute control over the funds” and “absolute control over the land, for their benefit, free from all dominion of the State Board of Land Commissioners.” He cites a number of decisions from other states which he submits are in harmony with his contention that the appellant is entitled to maintain this action. He especially calls the attention of this Court to certain Idaho Cases, and particularly to the case of Phoenix Lumber Company v. Regents of the University of Idaho, (C. C.) 197 Fed. R. 425, and the case of Interstate Construction Co. vs. Regents of the University of Idaho, (D. C.) 199 Fed. R. 509.

In these Idaho cases it was sought to enforce contracts of the Regents of the University. There was no direct attack upon the title to lands as we find in this case.

The said Federal Court found, among other things, that it has been the policy of the¡ State of Idaho in creating Boards and bodies to place them within the jurisdiction of the Court regardless of whether such boards and bodies were incorporated or not, and that:

“It has created and maintained other public institutions and essentially different in character from the University. There are, for business, the two State Normal Schools, and the State Academy, all strictly educational, and all public in character. There is also the State Industrial School, both reformative and educational but also of a public character. The government of each of these institutions is vested in a board appointed by the Governor of the State, not incorporated, but expressly declared to have the power to sue and be sued. ’ ’

The Regents of the University of Idaho were created a body corporate by the acts of the Territorial Legislature, approved Jan. 30, 1899, and later the Constitution of said State under the provisions of Section 10, Article 9, recognized said body corporate and its powers in words less in[315]*315dicative of tbe State’s exclusive control than are the sentences coined by the words used in the enabling act and the Constitution of Wyoming.

The Legislature and courts of Wyoming have not thus far adopted the policy that the Federal Judge found existing in Idaho.

Let us trace the Wyoming Policy.

Looking back to the territorial days we find that the Legislature in 1886 established in this State at the City of Laramie an institution of learning under the name and style of “The Universtiy of Wyoming” (Sec. 465, Wyo. Comp. Stat. 1920), and that the Legislature vested the government of the University in a board of seven trustees. (S. L. 1886 Ch. 37, Sec. 36).

Among the powers of the board of trustees the fifth and sixth paragraphs of Section 42 of said Act provided: To take and hold for the benefit of the University, any real or personal estate, and to dispose of the same in such manner as it may deem most conductive to the interests of the University. To expend the income placed under its control by the provisions of this chapter and such other funds as it may receive, in such manner as shall best promote the interest and property of the University. Section 36 of that Act reads as follows:

“Such Board of Trustees shall be authorized, whenever it deems the same expedient, to incorporate under the general corporation laws of this territory, and may thereby acquire, in addition to the powers herein named, the general powers of a body politic and corporate. ’ ’

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Bluebook (online)
222 P. 9, 30 Wyo. 309, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hjorth-royalty-company-v-trustees-of-university-wyo-1924.