Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/295/403.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:25:34+00:00

Document:
[295 U.S. 403, 404] Mr. William Neff, of Tulsa, Okl., for appellant.
Mr. Richard H. Wills, of Tulsa, Okl., for appellees.
This was a suit brought in a court of Seminole county, Okl., by a full-blood Creek Indian to recover an [295 U.S. 403, 405] interest in land inherited from his grandmother, also a full-blood Creek Indian, and afterward sold by his guardian. The asserted grounds for a recovery were (1) that the proceedings whereby the plaintiff was adjudged an incompetent and subjected to guardianship on that basis, and also the proceedings leading to the sale, were invalid, because in some particulars irregular or not in accord with the laws of Oklahoma; (2) that the sale was in contravention of a controlling federal restriction on alienation; and (3) that an Act of Congress of April 12, 1926, c. 115, 2, 44 Stat. 239, permitted the suit to be brought within two years after the act's approval, notwithstanding any bar which may have arisen under the state statutes of limitation before such approval.
The defendants answered and a trial was had at which judgment was given for them on a demurrer to the plaintiff's evidence. The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the judgment, 167 Okl. 531, 30 P.(2d) 875, and put its decision on the grounds (a) that the suit was barred by the state statutes of limitation, and (b) that the Act of Congress of April 12, 1926, relied on by the plaintiff as avoiding such a bar, could not be applied, because, if applied, if would deprive the defendants, who are holding under the guardian's sale, of vested rights without due process of law. The court's opinion did not mention the federal restriction on alienation set up by the plaintiff; but, of course, the judgment necessarily meant that the court regarded the asserted restriction as not requiring a different result.
The plaintiff and his grandmother were full-blood Indians of the Creek Tribe, enrolled as such, and entitled to share in the allotment of the tribal lands among the members. She died before receiving her allotment, and after her death the land in question, which was part of the tribal lands, was allotted and patented in her right, the patent being issued to her 'heirs' without naming them. Under the applicable statute the heirs received the land as an inheritance from her and not as an allotment in their own right. 1 The plaintiff was one of the heirs. He also received an allotment in his own right; and thus, like many others, he had a personal allotment as well as an interest in inherited land.
In May, 1916, the guardian by a verified petition requested the county court to authorize a sale of the plaintiff's interest in the inherited land for the purpose of securing money needed for his maintenance and support and for the improvement of his personal allotment. A month later the court entered an order reciting a hearing on that petition after lawful notice; finding the proposed sale was necessary for the purposes named; and directing the guardian to make the sale. Under that order the guardian made the sale at public auction to the highest bidder and reported it to the county court. July 11, 1916, the court entered an order (1) finding that due notice of the intended sale was given, that the sale was fairly conducted and legally made, and that the price was not disproportionate to the value of the property; (2) confirming and approving the sale; and (3) directing the guardian to execute a deed to the purchaser. The purchase price was paid to the guardian and he executed and delivered to the purchaser a deed, which was filed for record in the proper office July 12, 1916. The purchaser then entered into possession and he and his grantees remained in possession continuously thereafter. The defendants are the present claimants under the guardian's sale.
As part of the plaintiff's evidence, it was stipulated that the Secretary of the Interior had never removed any restrictions on the alienation of the inherited land, and that the same thing was true of the plaintiff's personal allot- [295 U.S. 403, 408] ment. But the defendants, although joining in the stipulation, objected that the facts stipulated were immaterial.
Under the state statutes thus described, the court held that the plaintiff's asserted right to call in question the guardian's sale was barred before the suit was begun and [295 U.S. 403, 409] before the approval of the Act of Congress of April 12, 1926.
1. Was the guardian's sale, as directed and approved by the county court, a forbidden alienation within the meaning of any then existing federal restriction? The plaintiff insists it was and points to the Act of May 27, 1908, c. 199, 35 Stat. 312, as containing the restriction.
The laws of the territory of Oklahoma which were thus put in force 'throughout' the new state included comprehensive provisions for the administration of estates of decedents, the appointment of guardians of minors and incompetents, and the management and sale of their property. In the territory of Oklahoma jurisdiction over these subjects was vested in probate courts and by the Constitution of the new state that jurisdiction was committed to county courts.
The Act of April 26, 1906, c. 1876, 34 Stat. 137, substituted a system of revised restrictions made applicable to all of the Five Civilized Tribes. In section 19 it dealt with restrictions relating to lands of living allottees, and in section 22 with those relating to inherited lands, including, as this court has held, lands allotted in the right of deceased members. 5 Under section 22 the right of full-blood Indian heirs to alienate the inherited lands was subjected to the [295 U.S. 403, 411] restriction that the conveyance be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
The Act of May 27, 1908, c. 199, 35 Stat. 312, again revised the restrictions and practically substituted its section 1 for section 19 of the act of 1906, and its section 9 for section 22 of that act. Thus, like the act of 1906, it dealt with the restrictions relating to lands of living allottees separately from those relating to inherited lands.
Counsel for the plaintiff place some reliance on that restriction. But there is no basis for doing so. The plaintiff's relation to the land in question was that of an heir, and not that of an allottee. 6 The land was allotted in the right of his deceased grandmother; so she rather than he should be regarded as the allottee.
The first sentence in the quoted part of section 9, where not restrained by the proviso, undoubtedly frees the inherited lands from all restrictions on alienation. But as respects an heir who is a full-blood Indian, the proviso obviously restrains that sentence, and, if taken literally, makes unlawful any conveyance of any interest of such an heir in the inherited lands unless the conveyance be approved by the court having jurisdiction of the settlement of the estate of the deceased allottee. Here the heir was a full-blood Indian. So the question arises, whether the proviso is intended to include a conveyance made pursuant to a guardian's sale, such as was directed and approved by the county court in this instance.
The proviso makes no mention of minors or incompetents under guardianship or of conveyances made by their guardians under the direction of courts having jurisdiction of their estates. Under other acts of Congress, the persons and estates of Indian minors and incompetents in the Indian Territory and the state of Oklahoma have long been subjected to the jurisdiction of local courts; and that jurisdiction is recognized throughout the allotment statutes before described and in section 2 of the act of 1908. True, [295 U.S. 403, 413] that jurisdiction could not be exercised otherwise than in keeping with the laws of Congress relating to such Indians and their lands; but this constitutes no reason for putting aside the statutes granting and recognizing the jurisdiction when a related statute is being emamined and construed.
A similar question respecting the construction and application of the proviso was considered by this court in 1920. The case involved a sale of inherited land by the guardian of minor heirs who were full-blood Creek Indians, the guardian having acted under the order of the court having control of the guardianship; and it was held that the proviso, rightly construed, did not include such a sale.
In principle what was said there is applicable here. That the Indian heir in that case was a minor and in this was an incompetent is not material. The important thing, both there and here, is that the conveyance was made under the direction of the court having jurisdiction of a pending guardianship over the heir's estate. The guardianships were alike in point of congressional authorization and recognition, had like purposes, and were attended by like measures of control.
Plainly the proviso should be read in connection with the statutes whereby Congress authorized and recognized such guardianships and in the light of familiar rules of [295 U.S. 403, 415] construction. Upon such a reading it becomes reasonably certain that the proviso, although couched in general terms, is not intended to include a conveyance made by the guardian of a minor or incompetent heir pursuant to a sale directed and approved by the court having control of the guardianship of the heir's estate.
2. We come then to the contention respecting the application of the state statutes of limitation. It proceeds on the assumption, first, that the guardian's sale was in direct conflict with the federal restrictions on alienation; and, secondly, that the proceedings whereby the plaintiff was brought under guardianship as an incompetent, as also the later proceedings leading to the sale, were not in conformity with the state statutes, and that these irregularities brought the sale in conflict with the restrictions.
We have already shown that the first assumption is not tenable. And we are of opinion the second is ill-grounded.
When Congress subjected Indian minors and incompetents and their estates to the laws of the state in respect of guardianships, it did not thereby incorporate those laws into the federal restrictions. It merely gave its assent to their application to such Indians. The laws remained state laws, as before, and as such were to be applied to these Indians. Congress expressly imposed a limitation fixing stated ages of majority for them. This, of course, put that matter beyond the reach of the state statutes, and the courts of the state have so ruled. Apart from this limitation and some others not material here, the state laws have the same application to Indian guardianships that they have when the wards are minors or incompetents of other races. [295 U.S. 403, 416] Whether the proceedings in such Indian guardianships conform to the state statutes is a question of state, not federal, law. And, in the absence of congressional provision to the contrary, the time and mode of seeking the correction of errors believed to have been committed by the state courts in such proceedings, as also the effect of inaction in that regard, are all controlled by the state laws, as in the instance of other guardianship proceedings.
The defendants hold the rights transferred by the guardian's sale and deed. The deed was filed for record July 12, 1916, and the grantee then went into possession. The plaintiff had then attained his majority, but was under guardianship as an incompetent. That disability and guardianship terminated August 4, 1917. The guardian's sale and deed were not challenged until April 11, 1928, when this suit was begun. In the meantime any right the plaintiff may have had to challenge the sale and deed had become barred by section 1444 and subdivision 2 of 99 of the state statutes of limitation (St. 1931). The bar became effective July 12, 1921, if not August 4, 1920, in that under the operation of those statutes the guardian's sale and deed then ripened into an unassailable title.
1a See Mullen v. Glass, 43 Okl. 549, 143 P. 679; Yarhola v. Strough, 64 Okl. 195, 166 P. 729; Lytle v. Fulotka, 106 Okl. 86, 233 P. 456; Johnston v. Guy, 165 Okl. 156, 25 P.(2d) 625.
[ Footnote 2 ] Act of June 7, 1897, c. 3, 30 Stat. 62, 83.
[ Footnote 3 ] Act of April 28, 1904, c. 1824, 2, 33 Stat. 573.
[ Footnote 4 ] Skelton v. Dill, 235 U.S. 206 , 35 S.Ct. 60; Adkins v. Arnold, 235 U.S. 417, 420 , 35 S.Ct. 118; Talley v. Burgess, 246 U.S. 104, 107 , 38 S.Ct. 287.
[ Footnote 5 ] Talley v. Burgess, supra, 246 U.S. 104, 108 , 38 S.Ct. 287.
[ Footnote 6 ] Harris v. Bell, 254 U.S. 103, 108 , 41 S.Ct. 49.
[ Footnote 7 ] Harris v. Bell, 254 U.S. 103, 108 , 114 S., 41 S.Ct. 49.
[ Footnote 8 ] Harris v. Bell, 254 U.S. 103, 112 , 113 S., 41 S.Ct. 49, 52.
[ Footnote 9 ] Cooley, Const. Lim. (6th Ed.) p. 448.
[ Footnote 10 ] Campbell v. Holt, 115 U.S. 620, 623 , 6 S.Ct. 209, 211.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.