Posey v. Abraham

1933 OK 495, 25 P.2d 287, 165 Okla. 140, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 271
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 26, 1933
Docket21300
StatusPublished

This text of 1933 OK 495 (Posey v. Abraham) 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
Posey v. Abraham, 1933 OK 495, 25 P.2d 287, 165 Okla. 140, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 271 (Okla. 1933).

Opinion

WELCH, J.

Plaintiff in error commenced this action in the district court of Creek county, Okla., on April 10, 1928, against the defendants in error, for the cancellation of a sheriff’s deed under which the defendants in error claimed title to certain real estate which is a portion of plaintiff in error’s allotment of land as a member of the Creek Tribe of Indians. Plaintiff also sought recovery of the land, the cancellation of various other instruments, and the quieting of his title. The parties appear herein in the same relative position occupied by them in the district court, and will be referred to in this opinion as plaintiff and defendants.

The plaintiff is a duly enrolled member of the Creek Tribe of Indians; is enrolled as a minor Creek No. 40 as of one-sixteenth Indian blood, and was born on January 4, 1906, according to1 the enrollment records. He became of age January 4, 1927. The lands involved herein are portions of his surplus and homestead allotment of land as a member of the said tribe of Indians.

Some time prior to January 4, 1927, and while plaintiff was yet a minor, there was instituted in the district court of Tulsa county, 'Okla., an action wherein said court con *141 ferred'upon plaintiff his majority rights, and at about the same time, and also prior to January 4, 1927, the plaintiff executed his promissory note to one H. S. Williams in the principal sum of $300. This note was given as attorney’s fee for legal services performed by Mr. Williams for the minor in the suit in which majority rights were conferred, and for other services which had been performed by the same attorney for the minor’s guardian prior to that time.

On January 10, 1927, the said H. S. Williams brought a suit in the district court of Creek county, Okla., against the said Charles K. Posey upon this note. Upon the same day the petition was filed, a written confession of judgment was filed in the cause as follows :

“In the District Court of Creek County, Oklahoma, No. 15803.
“H. S. Williams, Plaintiff, v. Chas. K. Posey, Defendant.
“Confession of Judgment.
“Comes now Charles K. Posey and personally appears in open court herein, without process being issued or served upon him and voluntarily confessed that he is indebted to H. S. Williams, plaintiff herein, in the sum of $337.95.
“And said Charles K. Posey hereby authorizes said court on the application of said H. S'. Williams to render judgment against him, the said Charles K. Posey, on his said confession, for the sum of $337.95, said judgment to bear interest from date at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and for the costs of this action.
“Chas. K. Posey, Defendant.”

And on the same date the court rendered judgment for plaintiff in said cause for the amount due under the note as shown by plaintiff’s petition. In the instant suit the plaintiff denied having executed the above confession of judgment, but this issue was decided adversely to plaintiff’s contention by a jury, and this finding is not seriously attacked by plaintiff herein.

On August 24, 1927, a writ of execution was issued in said cause, and under this writ the lands involved herein were levied upon and same were sold at sheriff’s sale, confirmation thereof was had in said court, and on October 31, 1927, the sheriff’s deed, which is attacked in this cause, was executed and delivered to the purchaser at said sale, who is one of the defendants herein.

This suit was instituted for the cancellation of the above mentioned sheriff’s deed, and for other purposes not necessary herein to recite, and upon issue being joined was tried to the court and jury, resulting in a judgment for the defendants, from which judgment plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

One of plaintiff’s contentions is that, under section 4 of the Act of the United States Congress of May 27, 1908 (35 Stat. 313), the real estate involved herein was not subject to levy and sale under execution in satisfaction of the judgment above referred to. The act provides:

“That allotted lands shall not be subjected, or held liable to any form of personal claim, or demand, against the allottees arising, or existing prior to the removal of restrictions, other than contracts heretofore expressly permitted by law.”

He conténds that the indebtedness sought to be collected is clearly a personal claim or demand against the allottee arising or existing prior to the removal of federal restrictions upon the land, and therefore comes clearly within the inhibition contained in section 4, Act of May 27, 1908, supra. The defendants contend that the judgment obtained by Williams against the plaintiff, Posey, is a valid judgment, and that by reason of plaintiff’s execution of the confession of judgment subsequent to his attaining full legal age, the judgment beeáme and is a judgment by consent of the parties, and is a new and independent contract and a new obligation which plaintiff had full authority to make and enter into after he became of age, and for that reason the inhibition contained in section 4 of the Act of May 27, 1908, does not apply.

In Mortgage & Debenture Co., Ltd., v. Burrows, 75 Okla. 94, 182 P. 238, this court held:

“A ‘minor’ within the meaning of section 6 of Act of Cong. May 27, 1908, c. 199, 35 Stat. L. 312, includes males under the age of 21 years, and females under the age of 13 years, and an order of the district court granting such minor the rights of majority does not confer upon him or her the authority to do any act affecting at ihe time, or thereafter, his or her allotted lands independent of the jurisdiction and supervision of the county courts of the state.
“The qualification in section 6 of Act of Cong. May 27, 1908, c. 199; 35 Stat. L. 312, ‘except as otherwise specifically provided by law,’ means federal law, and not state law.
“Lands allotted to a Choctaw Indian of one-fourth blood are not subject to sale on execution after she becomes of age, to satisfy a judgment rendered against her after reaching her majority upon an indebtedness incurred before reaching the age of 18 years.”

*142 In O’Conner v. Johnson, 107 Okla. 5, 220 P. 146, this court held in syllabus paragraph 2 thereof:

“Section 2 of the Act of Congress of May 27, 1908, defines minors * * and the term minor or minors, as used in this act, shall include all males under the age of 21 years, and all females under the age of 18 years.’ The granting of .majority rights by the courts of this state to a female Indian allottee under the age of 18 years will not operate to change the status of such minor Indian al-lottee as to her rights, disabilities or restrictions touching her allotted estate.”

See, also, Truskett v. Closser, 286 U. S. 223, 59 L. Ed. 549, and First State Bank of Hewett v. Lowery, 72 Okla. 115, 178 P. 983.

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Related

Truskett v. Closser
236 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 1915)
First State Bank of Hewitt v. Lowery
1919 OK 59 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1919)
Mortgage Debenture Co., Ltd. v. Burrows
1919 OK 182 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1919)
Cobb v. Killingsworth
1920 OK 61 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1920)
O'Conner v. Johnson
1924 OK 567 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1924)

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Bluebook (online)
1933 OK 495, 25 P.2d 287, 165 Okla. 140, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/posey-v-abraham-okla-1933.