Sharp v. City of Guthrie

1915 OK 768, 152 P. 403, 49 Okla. 213, 1915 Okla. LEXIS 34
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 12, 1915
Docket6213
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 1915 OK 768 (Sharp v. City of Guthrie) 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
Sharp v. City of Guthrie, 1915 OK 768, 152 P. 403, 49 Okla. 213, 1915 Okla. LEXIS 34 (Okla. 1915).

Opinion

HARDY, J.

On May 23, 1913, E. G. Sharp, plaintiff in error, a, resident taxpayer of the city of Guthrie, m the district court of Logan county, sued defendants in error, in effect, to enjoin the city from conveying what is known on the official plat of the city as “Capitol Park,” to the Methodist University for the sum of one dollar. There was trial of the cause to the court and judgment fe: defendants, and plaintiff brings the case here.

The first question to be determined is whether the lands involved are impressed with a trust for park purposes so as to prevent conveyance by the defendant city, as was attempted to be done. The determination of this question involves a consideration of the various acts of Congress under which the lands were acquired by the city of Guthrie. By section 13, Act March 2, 1889, c. 412, 25 Stat. 1005, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to permit entry of public lands in Oklahoma Territory for town-site purposes under sections 2387, 2388, Rev. St. U. S. (U. S. Comp. St., secs. 4791, 4792) ; no entry to embrace more than oné-half section of land. Section 2387, referred to, provided that Mfhere lands may be settled upon and occupied as a town site, same may be entered for town-site purposes at the minimum price, in trust for the use and benefit of the occupants thereof; and section 2388 provides that a declaratory statement of the purpose of the inhabitants to enter the lands as a town *215 site should be filed with the register of the proper land office. The minimum price at which lands were authorized to be entered under these sections was $1.25 per acre. On May 2, 1890, Congress passed the Organic Act for Oklahoma Territory (26 Stat. 81), under section 22 of which it was provided that reservations may be made for parks, schools and other public purposes, and that patents for such reservations to be maintained for such purposes should be issued to the towns, respectively, when organized as municipalities. By Act May 14, 1890, c. 207, 26 Stat. 109 (U. S. Comp. St. 1918, section 5029) provision was made for the appointment of three trustees, with authority to enter town sites for the use and benefit of the occupants thereof, and for assessment upon the lots of a sum sufficient to pay for the lands reserved in such town sites, cost of surveying the lands, compensation of trustees, and other necessary expenses. Pursuant to the provisions of this statute, trustees were appointed, and a plat filed by them in the proper land office December 16, 1891, entering the land involved, together with other lands, as a town site for the proposed town of Capitol Hill, which plat was later filed with the register of deeds of Logan county. On July 31, 1894, these trustees executed a deed to the city of Guthrie purporting to convey the lands in controversy, in which it was recited that the cost incurred in .connection therewith, amounting to $46, had been paid, and, further, that said city was—

“to have and to hold, and maintain, the same for the sole and separate use and benefit and purpose of a public park for public uses and none other.”

It having been discovered that this deed was ineffectual to convey title to the municipality, same was recalled and canceled, and on April 3, 1913, patent was executed *216 by the President, conveying said lands to the municipality. This was by reason of the fact that, under the act of May 14, 1890, the trustees were not authorized to convey the lands in question. City of Perry, 22 Land Dec. Dept. Int. 367. The patent of April 3, 1913, purports to have been issued pursuant to the provisions of section 22, Act May 2, 1890, supra, and the conveying clause is as follows:

“Now, know ye that there is therefore granted by the United States unto the city of Guthrie, the tracts of lands above described, to have and to hold said tracts of land with the appurtenances thereof unto the said city of Guthrie, and to its successors forever.”

It will be noticed that the patent simply makes reference to section 22 of the act of May 2, 1890, and that there is no trust imposed or condition coupled with the terms, of conveyance in the patent.

Plaintiff in error contends that the lands are impressed with a trust for park purposes, while defendant in error says this is not so, but on the contrary, the city took a fee-simple title, free from any trust or condition, and with the power of alienation.

The facts in this case are very similar to the case of Morgan v. Rogers et al., 79 Fed. 577, 25 C. C. A. 97, in which case the city of Denver, by Act of May 21, 1872, c. 187, 17 Stat. 140, was authorized to purchase certain lands in Colorado for cemetery purposes, to be entered by the mayor of said city at the minimum price. The act was entitled, “An act to enable the city of Denver to purchase- certain lands in Colorado for cemetery purposes,” and provided:

“That the mayor of the city of Denver, in Colorado Territory, be, and he is hereby authorized to enter through the proper land office, at the minimum price per acre, the *217 following lands belonging to the United States [describing them], being 160 acres of land, lying adjacent to said city of Denver, to be held and used for a burial place for said city and vicinity.”

The lands were entered and paid for, and on November 15, 1873, patent was duly issued, conveying to Joseph E. Bates, mayor of the city of Denver, and to his successors and assigns forever, the lands described, including the lands aforesaid, in trust for the city of Denver. The patent contained no reference to the use to which the land was to be put. On January 25, 1890 (26 Stat. 2, c. 3), Congress passed an act which referred to the previous act of May 21, 1872, and confirmed the patent theretofore issued, and further provided:.

“That the * * * city of Denver be, and it is hereby, authorized to vacate the use of said land, or any part thereof, as a cemetery, and to appropriate and use the same * * * for a public park or grounds,” and to no other purpose.

The lands involved therein had been conveyed to the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Denver, and on April 25, 1887, a portion thereof had been conveyed to the defendant Morgan, who had entered thereon and platted same as an addition to the city of Denver. Ejectment was brought by the mayor of the city against the defendant, and on demúrrer to the petition the trial court overruled the demurrer and rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, and upon error, to the Circuit Courts of Appeals, this judgment was reversed, and in the opinion the court said:

“(1) The act of Congress of May 21, 1872, to enable the city of Denver to purchase certain land in Colorado for cemetery purposes, and authorizing the mayor of the city of Denver to enter the designated 160 acres at the *218 land office at the minimum price, to be held and used as a burial place by said city and vicinity, did not operate to annex any condition to the grant so authorized. Conditions subsequent are not' favored, and the terms used must clearly show 'that it was intended that the grant should be on condition, or they will not be construed to have that effect.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1915 OK 768, 152 P. 403, 49 Okla. 213, 1915 Okla. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sharp-v-city-of-guthrie-okla-1915.