In Re State Treasury Note Indebtedness

1939 OK 218, 90 P.2d 19, 185 Okla. 10, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 229
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 24, 1939
DocketNo. 29179.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 1939 OK 218 (In Re State Treasury Note Indebtedness) 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
In Re State Treasury Note Indebtedness, 1939 OK 218, 90 P.2d 19, 185 Okla. 10, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 229 (Okla. 1939).

Opinions

OSBORN, J.

This is an original proceeding brought in the Supreme Court through the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission, pursuant to the provisions of Senate Bill No. 239, enacted by the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Oklahoma, approved by the Governor April 10, 1939, for the purpose of funding $18,000,000 of outstanding and unpaid state treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma, issued in anticipation of the general revenues of the state, pursuant to the provisions of article 3, ch. 27, S. L. 1937, page 123, which with the interest due thereon to May 1, 1939. amount in the aggregate to the sum of $18,156,681. It is made to appear from the application and evidence submitted in support thereof that it is the purpose of the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission to fund said state treasury note indebtedness by the issuance of negotiable coupon bonds of the State of Oklahoma, designated “Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A,” in the sum of $18,156,681, dated May 1, 1939, and maturing $750,000 on June 30th of each of the years 1940 to 1946, inclusive; $1,600,000 on June 30th of each of the years 1947 to to 1953, inclusive; and $1,-706,681 on June 30, 1954. $12,145,000 of said bonds are to be exchanged for the simultaneous surrender and cancellation of $12,-145,000 of state treasury notes; and $6,-011,681 of said funding bonds have been sold for delivery on May 1, 1939, for $6,-011,681 and a premium of $10, which amount of money is to be used in paying the interest due on said $12,145.000 of state treasury notes on May 1, 1939, and in paying the principal and interest due on $5,855,000 of state treasury notes due on May 1, 1939.

All of the $18,156,681 of bonds were sold at an advertised sale, held on April 14, 1939. to the highest bidder agreeing to pay par and accrued interest for the bonds and bidding the lowest rate of interest the bonds are to bear, except that the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission required the successful bidder to permit the exchange of $12,-145,000 of said bonds for notes, making the amount of bonds to be delivered to the purchaser amount to $6,011,681. The bonds were sold to The Chase National Bank of New York, N. Y., and associates. The bonds bear the rate of interest fixed by said sale as follows:

The bonds maturing June 30, 1940, to June 30, 1948, inclusive, bear interest at the rate of 2% per cent, per annum, and

The bonds maturing June 30, 1949, to June 30, 1954, inclusive, bear interest at the rate of 2 per cent, per annum.

The average rate of interest the bonds are to bear is 2.07176 per cent.

Section 4 of Senate Bill No. 239 of the Seventeenth Legislature, approved April 10, 1939, conferred exclusive original jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court to hear and determine this application to fund. Notice was published in a legal newspaper on April 11, 1939, and in each daily issue of said newspaper to and including April 20, 1939, that the application would be presented to the Supreme Court for a hearing thereon on the 21st day of April, 1939, at 10 o’clock, a. m., and that the Attorney General would present for and on behalf of the State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Funding Bond Commission an application to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma to approve $18,156,681 of State Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A, dated May 1, 1939, for the purpose of funding and paying $18,156,681 of treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma. The notice further stated that all persons interested might file a protest against the issuance of said bonds and be present at said hearing and contest the issuance of said funding bonds or any part thereof. This notice was sufficient to put any person interested upon inquiry. The fact that the notice stated that an application would be presented to the Supreme Court to approve $18,156,681 of state funding bonds for the purpose of funding and paying $18,156,681 of treasury notes of the State of Oklahoma instead of the principal and interest on $18,000,000 of state treasury notes does not make the notice defective.

“Mere informalities in a notice which do not mislead will not vitiate it; and, while 0a particular form of notice required by statute must usually be followed with reasonable strictness, it is generally sufficient if the notice proceeds from an authentic source and fully informs the parties to be notified of the substance of the matters required to be noticed (citing 5 Words and Phrases, pp. 4842-4844; see, also, vol. 8, p. 7733).” Tooele Meat & Storage Co. v. Morse, 43 Utah, 515, 136 P. 965; Foster *12 v. Focht, 102 Okla. 261, 229 P. 444 ; 46 C. J. 554.

It should be noted that in section 2 of Senate Bill No. 239 the state is authorized to issue its negotiable coupon bonds for the purpose of funding treasury notes, plus the accrued interest thereon to the date of the bonds issued to fund the same. We find and determine that the notice which was published is a sufficient and legal notice; that the same was published and given in conformity to the provisions of section 4 of Senate Bill No. 239; and that the same constitutes due and proper notice of this proceeding.

A protest was filed against the issuance of the bonds by A. V. Boswell, a citizen and taxpayer of the state. On the 21st day of April, 1939, the parties appeared before the court and the matter was referred to Justice Osborn for the taking of testimony. The applicant, the State of Oklahoma, through the Oklahoma Funding- Bond Commission, appeared by the Attorney General and submitted testimony in proof of the existence, validity, and amount of the state treasury notes sought to be funded, and requested the court to approve the $18,156,681 of State of Oklahoma “Funding Bonds of 1939, Series A,” dated May 1, 1939. The protestan! offered evidence in opposition thereto, and the case was heard by the court on the 22nd day of April, 1939, when counsel for both parties submitted briefs and oral arguments in support of their respective positions.

Protestant urges that this court is without jurisdiction for the reason that the Legislature was without authority to confer exclusive original jurisdiction upon this court to hear and determine this proceeding. Section 2 of article 7, Oklahoma Constitution, after prescribing the appellate and original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in certain classes of cases, adds: “and the Supreme Court may exercise such other and further jurisdiction as may be conferred upon it by law.” In El Reno Wholesale Grocery Co. v. Taylor, County Treasurer, 87 Okla. 140, 209 P. 749, it was held that: “In matters of general public interest, matters which directly affect the sovereign rights and powers of the state, the Legis-« lature has power, under section 2, article 7, to confer original jurisdiction upon this court.” The contention of protestant is without merit.

Protestant further contends that Senate Bill No. 239, enacted by the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Oklahoma, approved April 10, 1939, violates section 57, of article 5, Oklahoma Constitution, in that it embraces more than one subject. That an act involves many details does not offend the requirement that each act shall embrace hut one subject, if all the details relate to the same general subject. C. C. Julian Oil & Royalties Co. v. Capshaw, 145 Okla. 237, 292 P. 841. The act under consideration embraces but one general subject, the funding of certain state indebtedness, and does not violate section 57, article 5, Oklahoma Constitution.

Protestant also contends that Senate Bill No.

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Bluebook (online)
1939 OK 218, 90 P.2d 19, 185 Okla. 10, 1939 Okla. LEXIS 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-state-treasury-note-indebtedness-okla-1939.