Tiger v. Read

159 P. 499, 60 Okla. 106, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1289
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 25, 1916
Docket7433
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 159 P. 499 (Tiger v. Read) 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
Tiger v. Read, 159 P. 499, 60 Okla. 106, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1289 (Okla. 1916).

Opinion

Opinion by

BRUNSON, C.

This action was commenced on the 11th day of January, A. D. 1910, in the district court of Tulsa county, by the filing of a petition by T. J. Dawson, as next friend of George Tiger, a minor, against the defendants in error in this action. In the petition it- is alleged that George Tiger is the owner of certain lands described therein, and that he is entitled to the immediate possession thereof; that the defendants, and each of them, are unlawfully keeping him out of the possession of the same.

For the purpose of this case it is not material as to what happened between the plaintiff and any of the defendants except G. E. Cassity. He filed a separate answer in which he denied the plaintiff’s title and right to possession of the lands and claimed that he was the owner of said lands himself. He also denied each and every material allegation in the plaintiff’s petition. The cause was tried to the court without a jury on the 13th day of December, 1911, and during the progress of the trial there was a stipulation made and entered into by and between G. E. Cassity and the next friend of said minor, in which it was agreed that said minor was the owner of the lands in question and entitled to the possession of the same, but that the minor was indebted to said G. E. Cassity in the sum of $672; that judgment should be rendered against him and in favor of said Cassity for that amount, and that the court should enter judgment against him, decreeing said amount to be a lien upon the rents and profits arising from a portion' of the lands in question. This agreement was made in the presence of the court and subject to his approval. He approved the same and entered judgment accordingly.

On the 9th day of July, A. D. 1914, said George Tiger, having arrived at full age and within one year after reaching his majority, filed a petition in said cause asking that the judgment so rendered against him be modified, and that that part of the judgment which decrees said $672 as a lien against said lands be set aside for the reason that it is void, the court having no power to make the same a lien against the rents and profits arising from his allotted lands.

It is alleged in said petition that he is a citizen of the Creek Indian Nation, duly enrolled as a freedman upon the rolls made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes opposite roll No. 532, and tliat according to the enrollment records of said commission, he reached his majority and became of age on the 1st day of August, 1913,' and that the lands in question are the lands allotted to him by virtue of his being a Creek Indian freedman. That at the time the above judgment was rendered against him,, he was a minor and under the age of 21 years. A certified copy of the enrollment records of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, showing the date of his enrollment and his age at the time of enrollment, urns attached to his petition and made a part thereof. To the petition to so modify the original judgment the defendant in error G. E. Cassity filed a demurrer, and on the 2d day of January, 1915. it was by the court sustained, to which ruling of the court the plaintiff in error excepted and refused to plead further, whereupon the court dismissed the petition and an appeal was prosecuted from said judgment to this court.

The question for our consideration is: Did the court err in sustaining the demurrer to the petition of the plaintiff in error to modify the judgment? The demurrer admits that the court entered the judgment against! said minor for $672, while he was a minor, and that *107 said amount was decreed to be a lien upon the rents and profits of his allotted lands; admits that he was a minor and a Creek Indian freedman; that the land in question is his allotment; admits the truthfulness of the census card and enrollment record at tached to said petition and made a part of it —in fact it admits all the statements set out in the petition to modify the judgment.

The vital question here for our consideration is, whether or not that part of the judgment is valid which makes the $672 a lien upon the rents and profits arising from the allotment of a minor Creek Indian freedman. It is provided in the act of Congress of May 27, 1908, c. 199, 35-Stat. at Targe, 312:

“That the persons and property of minor allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes shall, except as otherwise specifically provided by law, be subject to the jurisdiction of the probate courts of the state of Oklahoma.”

In this act exclusive jurisdiction is conferred upon the probate courts of the state of Oklahoma over the estates of minors, and it is specifically declared that the term minor shall include all males under the age of 21 years, and all females under the age of 18 years, and that in the management, leasing, and sale of the lands of the minor allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes the statute oí Oklahoma prevails, with the single exception ■of the age when minority terminates, and the restriction being removed upon the alienation of this minor as to his allotted lands, the same could have been sold as the lands of other minors are sold by the proper county court of the state in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction. Prior to the act of May 27. 1908. no act of Congress had removed the restrictions upon the alienation of any part of the lands allotted to minors.

In the case of Cochran v. Teehee, 40 Okla. 388, 138 Pac. 563, the plaintiff was a minor Cherokee Indian according to the enrollment records, but as a matter of fact she was of age, and it was stipulated by and between the attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant that she was of age and that the rolls showed her to be a minor. She filed suit in the district court asking for an accounting to her by her guardian; that he be required to pay over to her the royalties and profits accruing from her allotment. The sole question presented to the court was whether the county courts, exercising probate jurisdiction, charged with the guardianship of minor members of the Five Civilized Tribes until they attained their majority as evidenced by the enrollment records in the office of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, are charged with the guardianship of said allot-tees as to the profits or income derived from the allotted lands until the owner thereof attains the age of majority as shown by the enrollment records. The court, in discussing the jurisdiction of the probate courts over the person and property of minor allottees, said:

“That the statute in question placed the lands of these allottees who were minors under the jurisdiction of the probate courts of Oklahoma, and that such jurisdiction extended to a full superintending control over the lands and to the time when the said minors, as provided by the said act, attained their majority, presents a common highway which both parties to this action travel together.”

And again it is said in this opinion:

“Herein is recognized that it is the intention of the lawmakers, not to withdraw the protection of the department from such al-lottees so far as the proceeds arising from the sale of their lands were concerned. * * * • jhe lands of these allottees, as conceded, are subject to such jurisdiction, and we can see no reason for holding that where the lands are exchanged for money, that then the protection is removed.

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Related

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1930 OK 209 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1930)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 P. 499, 60 Okla. 106, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tiger-v-read-okla-1916.