Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/221/286/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 08:39:16+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 221 › Tiger v. Western Investment Co.
The obvious purpose of § 8 of the Act of May 27, 1908, c.199, 35 Stat. 312, was to continue supervision over the right of full-blood Indians to dispose of lands by will, and to require conveyances of interests of full-blood Indians in inherited lands to be approved by a competent court.
When several acts of Congress are passed touching the same subject matter, subsequent legislation may be considered to assist in interpretation of the prior legislation.
In passing the Enabling Act for the admission of Oklahoma of June 16, 1906, c. 3335, 34 Stat. 267, Congress preserved the authority of the government of the United States over the Indians, their lands and property, which it had prior to the passage of that act.
The Act of April 26, 1906, c. 1876, 34 Stat. 137, providing for the final disposition of the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory, while it permitted lands to be conveyed by full-blood Indians, was nevertheless intended to prevent imprudent sales by this class of Indians and made such conveyances valid only when affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior.
grantee of an Indian of that class on the ground that it deprives the Indian of his property without due process of law.
From the earliest period, Congress has dealt with Indians as dependent people and legislated concerning their property with a view to their protection as such.
Congress has full power to legislate concerning tribal property of Indians, and the conferring of citizenship on individual Indians does not prevent Congress from continuing to deal with tribal lands.
The privileges and immunities of federal citizenship do not prevent such proper governmental restraint upon the conduct or property of citizens as may be necessary for the general good.
When the Act of April 26, 1906, was passed, Congress had not by the Supplemental Creek Agreement of June 30, 1902, c. 1323, 32 Stat. 500, or by any other act, released its control over the alienation of lands of full-blood Creek Indians, and it was within its power to continue to restrict such alienation notwithstanding the bestowal of citizenship upon the Indians, by requiring the approval of the Secretary of the Interior to conveyances made by them.
As above construed, the Act of April 26, 1906, c. 1876, 34 Stat. 137, is not unconstitutional as depriving full-blood Indians upon whom citizenship has been bestowed of their property without due process of law because it places further restrictions upon their right of alienation of lands.
The facts, which involve the construction and constitutionality of the provision of the Act of April 26, 1906, c. 1876, 34 Stat. 137, requiring certain conveyances of full-blood Indians to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, are stated in the opinion.
According to the law of descent and distribution, which had been put in force in the Indian Territory, Marchie Tiger was the sole heir at law of his deceased brother and sisters. 32 Stat. 500, c. 1323; Mansfield's Dig. Arkansas Stat. c. 49, § 2522.
1907, to the Coweta Realty Company; the consideration agreed to be paid by the company was $3,000, of which $558 was paid. The plaintiff in error offered to return the amounts paid by the respective purchasers, and made tender thereof, which was refused, and this suit is brought to have the deeds in question cancelled, and the claim set aside as a cloud upon plaintiff's title.
Each and all of these conveyances were made without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held the conveyances valid and denied relief to the plaintiff in error. 21 Okl. 630.
Two questions arise in the case. First, could a full-blood Creek Indian, on and after the eighth day of August, 1907, convey the lands inherited by him from his relatives, who were full-blood Creek Indians, which lands had been allotted to them, so as to give a good title to the purchaser, although the conveyance was made without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior? Second, if the legislation of Congress in question undertook to make such conveyances valid only when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, is it constitutional?
An answer to these questions requires a consideration of certain treaties and legislation concerning title to these lands. In 1833, the United States made a treaty with the Creek nation of Indians, in consideration of which they were to move to a new country west of the Mississippi, and to surrender all the lands held by them east of the Mississippi, and the United States agreed to convey to them a tract of land comprising what is now a part of the State of Oklahoma.
and granted, and by these presents does give and grant, unto the Muskogee (Creek) Tribe of Indians the tract of country above mentioned, to have and to hold the same unto the said tribe of Indians so long as they shall exist as a nation and continue to occupy the country hereby assigned to them."
"SEC. 15. The consent of the United States is hereby given to the allotment of lands in severalty, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one individual within the limits of the country occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles; . . . and upon the allotment of the lands held by said tribes respectively the reversionary interest of the United States therein shall be relinquished and shall cease."
Section 7 of that act contains certain restrictions upon the title of individual Indians after the same had been conveyed to them by the Creek Nation with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Section 7 of the Act of March 1, 1901, was amended by the Act of June, 30, 1902, 32 Stat. 500, c. 1323, known as the Supplemental Creek Agreement.
"SEC. 16. Lands allotted to citizens shall not in any manner whatever or at any time be encumbered, taken, or sold to secure or satisfy any debt or obligation, nor be alienated by the allottee or his heirs before the expiration of five years from the date of the approval of this supplemental agreement, except with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Each citizen shall select from his allotment forty acres of land, or a quarter of a quarter section, as a homestead, which shall be and remain nontaxable, inalienable, and free from any encumbrance whatever for twenty-one years from the date of the deed therefor, and a separate deed shall be issued to each allottee for his homestead, in which this condition shall appear."
It is thus apparent that the five-year limitation created by § 16 of the act of 1902 upon the alienation of lands by the Creek Indians had expired when the conveyances in controversy were made.
Within that five years, and about fifteen months before the expiration thereof, Congress passed the Act of April 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 137, c. 1876), entitled, "An Act to Provide for the Final Disposition of the Affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, and for other Purposes."
Section 28 of the act provides for the continuance of the tribal governments of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole tribes or nations, but places certain restrictions upon their right of legislation, making the same subject to the approval of the President of the United States.
"SEC. 22. That the adult heirs of any deceased Indian of either of the Five Civilized Tribes whose selection has been made, or to whom a deed or patent has been issued for his or her share of the land of the tribe to which he or she belongs or belonged, may sell and convey the lands inherited from such decedent, and if there be both adult and minor heirs of such decedent, then such minors may join in a sale of such lands by a guardian duly appointed by the proper United States court for the Indian Territory. And in case of the organization of a state or territory, then by a proper court of the county in which said minor or minors may reside, or in which said real estate is situated, upon an order of such court, made upon petition filed by guardian. All conveyances made under this provision by heirs who are full-blood Indians are to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe."
It is the contention of the defendants in error that this section, when read in connection with § 16 of the act of 1902, above quoted, has the effect to require conveyances made by full-blood Indian heirs during the period from the passage of the act of which § 22 is a part, until the expiration of the five years period named in § 16, to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, but does not interfere with the capacity of such full-blood Indian heirs to convey the inherited lands after the expiration of the five years. This was the view entertained by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma in deciding this case.
the protection of the Secretary of the Interior, so far as his approval was required, until the expiration of the five-year period named in § 16.
As to the Seminoles at the time of the passage of the Act of April 26, 1906, the law forbade alienation prior to the date of the patent. The patent was to be made by the principal chief of the tribe when the tribal government ceased to exist. 30 Stat. 567, c. 542.
The legislation concerning the Creeks we have already recited. Alienation was forbidden until expiration of the five-year period, to-wit: until August 8, 1907.
One section (14) of the Cherokee act provides there shall be no alienation within five years from the ratification of the act; another section (15) provides that Cherokee allotments, except homesteads, shall be alienable in five years after the issue of the patent. 32 Stat. 716, c. 1375.
from date of patent; provided, that such land shall not be alienable by the allottee or his heirs at any time before the expiration of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribal governments for less than its appraised value."
Act of July 1, 1902, 32 Stat. 641, 643, c. 1362.
In this case, we are concerned with the construction of the Act of April 26, 1906, so far as it involves the Creeks, and other statutes are mentioned with a view to aid in the construction of that act. It is the contention of the plaintiff in error that the Act of April 26, 1906, repealed all former legislation upon the subject, and intended to provide, as to full-blood Indians of the tribes, new and important protection in the disposition of their landed interests, and that, as the act provides that previous inconsistent legislation shall be repealed, so far as the same subjects are covered in the new act, it was intended to give additional protection to full-blood Indians and to prevent them from being deprived without adequate consideration of their lands and holdings, and that the real purpose of § 22, insofar as the adult heirs of the deceased Indians of the five civilized tribes are concerned, is to subject conveyances of such lands, when made by full-blood Indians, to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
We think a consideration of this act and of subsequent legislation in pari materia therewith demonstrates the purpose of Congress to require such conveyances by full-blood Indians to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
the inability of a full-blood Indian already owning a homestead to work or farm the same, the Secretary may authorize the leasing of such homestead.
Under § 20, leases and rental contracts of full-blood Indians, with certain exceptions, are required to be in writing, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Under § 23, authority is given "to all persons of lawful age and sound mind to devise and bequeath all his estate, real and personal, and all interest therein," but no will of a full-blood Indian, devising real estate, and disinheriting parent, wife, spouse, or children of a full-blood Indian, is valid until acknowledged before and approved by a judge of a United States court in the territory, or by the United States Commissioner.
Coming now to § 22, the first part of that section gives the adult heirs of any deceased Indian of either of the Five Civilized Tribes power to sell and convey the inherited lands named, with certain provisions as to joining minor heirs by guardians in such sales. This part of the statute would enable full-blood Indians, as well as others, to convey such lands as adult heirs of any deceased Indian, etc., but the last sentence of the section requires the conveyance made under this provision -- that is, conveyances made by adult heirs of the character named in the first part of the section -- when full-blood Indians, to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. This construction is in harmony with the other provisions of the act, and gives due effect to all the parts of § 22. True, it has the effect to extend the requirement of the approval of the Secretary of the Interior as to full-blood Indians beyond the terms prescribed in § 16 of the Act of 1902, and this, we think, was the purpose of Congress, which is emphasized in § 29 of the act, wherein all previous inconsistent acts and parts of acts are repealed.
the previous part of the section, and not to affect prior legislation upon the subject, it may be observed: the sentence does not take the ordinary character of a proviso, and is not introduced as such; and, even if regarded as a proviso, it is well known that independent legislation is frequently enacted by Congress under the guise of a proviso. Interstate Commerce Commission v. Baird, 194 U. S. 25, 194 U. S. 36, and previous cases in this Court therein cited.
by adding at the end of said section the words, 'or a judge of a county court of the State of Oklahoma.'"
"SEC. 9. That the death of any allottee of the Five Civilized Tribes shall operate to remove all restrictions upon the alienation of said allottee's land: Provided, that no conveyance of any interest of any full-blood Indian heir in such land shall be valid unless approved by the court having jurisdiction of the settlement of the estate of said deceased allottee,"
When several acts of Congress are passed touching the same subject matter, subsequent legislation may be considered to assist in the interpretation of prior legislation upon the same subject. Cope v. Cope, 137 U. S. 682; United States v. Freeman, 3 How. 556.
We cannot believe that it was the intention of Congress, in view of the legislation which we have quoted, to leave untouched the five-year restriction of the Act of 1902 so far as the inherited lands of full-blood Indians are concerned, or to permit the same to be conveyed without restriction from the expiration of that five-year period until the enactment of the legislation of May, 1908.
In passing the enabling act for the admission of the State of Oklahoma, where these lands are, Congress was careful to preserve the authority of the government of the United States over the Indians, their lands and property, which it had prior to the passage of the act. June 16, 1906, 34 Stat. 267, c. 3335.
Act of April, 1906, while it permitted inherited lands to be conveyed by full-blood Indians, nevertheless intended to prevent improvident sales by this class of Indians, and made such conveyance valid only when approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
The further question arises in this case -- in view of the construction we have given the legislation of Congress, is it constitutional? It is insisted that it is not, because the Indian is a citizen of the United States, and entitled to the protection of the Constitution, and that to add to the restrictions of the Act of 1902 those contained in subsequent acts is violative of his constitutional rights, and deprives him of his property without due process of law. It is to be noted in approaching this discussion that this objection is not made by the Indian himself; he is here seeking to avoid his conveyance. It is not made by the Creek Nation or Tribe, for it is stated without contradiction that the Act of 1906 has been ratified by the council of that nation.
The unconstitutionality of the act is asserted by the purchasers from the Indian, who are the defendants in error here, and proceeds upon the assumption that the Indian, at the time of the conveyance, August 8, 1907, had full legal title to the premises which could not be impaired by legislation of Congress subsequent to the Act of June 30, 1902.
"The power of the general government over these remnants of a race once powerful, now weak and diminished in numbers, is necessary to their protection as well as to the safety of those among whom they dwell. It must exist in that government, because it never has existed anywhere else, because the theater of its exercise is within the geographical limits of the United States, because it has never been denied, and because it alone can enforce its laws on all the tribes."
United States v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375.
"Plenary authority over the tribal relations of the Indians has been exercised by Congress from the beginning, and the power has always been deemed a political one, not subject to be controlled by the judicial department of the government."
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U. S. 565.
Citizenship, it is contended, was conferred upon the Creek Indians by the Act of March 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1447, c. 868, amending the Act of February 8, 1887, 24 Stat. 390, c. 119, by adding to the Indians given citizenship under that act, "every Indian in the Indian Territory." So amended, the act would read as to such Indian: "He is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizen." Is there anything incompatible with such citizenship in the continued control of Congress over the lands of the Indian? Does the fact of citizenship necessarily end the duty or power of Congress to act in the Indian's behalf?
Certain aspects of the question have already been settled by the decisions of this Court. That Congress has full power to legislate concerning the tribal property of the Indians has been frequently affirmed. Cherokee Nation v.
Hitchcock, 187 U. S. 294, 187 U. S. 308; United States v. Rickert, 188 U. S. 432; McKay v. Kalyton, 204 U. S. 458.
"There is no question involved in this case as to the taking of property; the authority which it is proposed to exercise by virtue of the Act of 1898 has relation merely to the control and development of the tribal property, which still remains subject to the administrative control of the government, even though the members of the tribe have been invested with the status of citizenship under recent legislation."
"These Indians are yet wards of the nation, in a condition of pupilage or dependency, and have not been discharged from that condition. They occupy these lands with the consent and authority of the United States, and the holding of them by the United States under the Act of 1887, and the agreement of 1889, ratified by the Act of 1891, is part of the national policy by which the Indians are to be maintained as well as prepared for assuming the habits of civilized life and ultimately the privileges of citizenship."
of citizens while it retained, for the time being, the title to certain lands in trust for their benefit, and withheld from them for a certain period the power to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of their interest in such lands. It is competent for a private donor, by deed or other conveyance, to create an estate of that character -- that is to say, it is competent for a private person to make a conveyance of real property and to withhold from the donee for a season the power to sell or otherwise dispose of it. And we can conceive of no sufficient reason why the United States, in the exercise of its sovereign power, should be denied the right to impose similar limitations, especially when it is dealing with the dependent race like the Indians, who have always been regarded as the wards of the government. Citizenship does not carry with it the right on the part of the citizen to dispose of land which he may own, in any way that he sees fit, without reference to the character of the title by which it is held. The right to sell property is not derived from, and is not dependent upon, citizenship; neither does it detract in the slightest degree from the dignity or value of citizenship that a person is not possessed of an estate, or, if possessed of an estate, that he is deprived for the time being of the right to alienate it."
Beck v. Flournoy Live Stock & Real Estate Co., 65 F. 30, 35.
of the national government, and when they shall be let out of that state is for Congress alone to determine."
The Rainbow case was cited with approval by Mr. Justice Brewer in delivering the opinion in United States v. Sutton, 215 U. S. 291, 215 U. S. 296.
Much reliance is placed upon In re Heff, 197 U. S. 488. In that case, it was held that a conviction could not be had under the federal statute for selling liquor to an Indian, the sale not being on a reservation and the Indian having been made a citizen, and subject to the civil and criminal laws of the state. In that case, the opinion was by Mr. Justice Brewer, who also delivered the opinion in the case of United States v. Celestine, 215 U. S. 278.
upon the person of another, and within the limits of a reservation. Bearing in mind the rule that the legislation of Congress is to be construed in the interest of the Indian, it may be fairly held that the statute does not contemplate a surrender of jurisdiction over an offense committed by one Indian upon the person of another Indian within the limits of the reservation; at any rate, it cannot be said to be clear that Congress intended by the mere grant of citizenship to renounce entirely its jurisdiction over the individual members of this dependent race."
In United States v. Sutton, supra, following United States v. Celestine, it was held that jurisdiction continued over the Indians as to offenses committed within the limits of an Indian reservation, and that Congress might prohibit the introduction of liquor into the Indian country. In In re Heff, supra, this Court said (p. 197 U. S. 509): "But the fact that property is held subject to a condition against alienation does not affect the civil or political status of the holder of the title."
Taking these decisions together, it may be taken as the settled doctrine of this Court that Congress, in pursuance of the long established policy of the government, has a right to determine for itself when the guardianship which has been maintained over the Indian shall cease. It is for that body, and not the courts, to determine when the true interests of the Indian require his release from such condition of tutelage.
and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such restraints as the government may prescribe for the general good of the whole."
Conceding that Marchie Tiger, by the act conferring citizenship, obtained a status which gave him certain civil and political rights, inhering in the privileges and immunities of such citizenship, unnecessary to here discuss, he was still a ward of the nation so far as the alienation of these lands was concerned, and a member of the existing Creek Nation. The inherited lands, though otherwise held in fee, were inalienable without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior until August, 1907, by virtue of the Act of Congress. In this state of affairs Congress, with plenary power over the subject, by a new act permitted alienation of such lands at any time, subject only to the condition that the Secretary of the Interior should approve the conveyance.
Upon the matters involved, our conclusions are that Congress had had at all times, and now has, the right to pass legislation in the interest of the Indians as a dependent people; that there is nothing in citizenship incompatible with this guardianship over the Indian's lands inherited from allottees, as shown in this case; that, in the present case, when the act of 1906 was passed, the Congress had not released its control over the alienation of lands of full-blood Indians of the Creek Nation; that it was within the power of Congress to continue to restrict alienation by requiring, as to full-blood Indians, the consent of the Secretary of the Interior to a proposed alienation of lands such as are involved in this case; that it rests with Congress to determine when its guardianship shall cease, and, while it still continues, it has the right to vary its restrictions upon alienation of Indian lands in the promotion of what it deems the best interest of the Indian.
the conveyance of inherited lands of the character of those in issue, it requires such conveyance to be made with the approval of the head of the Interior Department.
"SEC.19. That no full-blood Indian of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole tribes shall have power to alienate, sell, dispose of, or encumber in any manner any of the lands allotted to him for a period of twenty-five years from and after the passage and approval of this act unless such restriction shall, prior to the expiration of said period, be removed by act of Congress, and for all purposes the quantum of Indian blood possessed by any member of said tribe shall be determined by the rolls of citizens of said tribes, approved by the Secretary of the Interior; Provided, however, that such full-blood Indians of any of said tribes may lease any lands other than homesteads for more than one year under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and in case of the inability of any full-blood owner of a homestead, on account of infirmity or age, to work or farm his homestead, the Secretary of the Interior, upon proof of such inability, may authorize the leasing of such homestead under such rules and regulations: Provided, further, that conveyances heretofore made by members of any of the Five Civilized Tribes subsequent to the selection of allotment and subsequent to removal of restriction, where patents thereafter issue, shall not be deemed or held invalid solely because said conveyances were made prior to issuance and recording or delivery of patent or deed, but this shall not be held or construed as affecting the validity or invalidity of any such conveyance, except as hereinabove provided, and every deed executed before, or for the making of which a contract or agreement was entered into before, the removal of restrictions, be and the same is hereby declared void: Provided further, That all lands upon which restrictions are removed shall be subject to taxation, and the other lands shall be exempt from taxation as long as the title remains in the original allottee."
"SEC. 20. That after the approval of this act, all leases and rental contracts, except leases and rental contracts for not exceeding one year for agricultural purposes for lands other than homesteads of full-blood allottees of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole tribes, shall be in writing, and subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior, and shall be absolutely void and of no effect without such approval: Provided, That allotments of minors and incompetents may be rented or leased under order of the proper court: Provided further, that all leases entered into for a period of more than one year shall be recorded in conformity to the law applicable to recording instruments now in force in said Indian Territory."
"SEC. 22. That the adult heirs of any deceased Indian of either of the Five Civilized Tribes whose selection has been made, or to whom a deed or patent has been issued for his or her share of the land of the tribe to which he or she belongs or belonged, may sell and convey the lands inherited from such decedent, and if there be both adult and minor heirs of such decedent, then such minors may join in a sale of such lands by a guardian duly appointed by the proper United States court for the Indian Territory, and in case of the organization of a state or territory, then by a proper court of the county in which said minor or minors may reside, or in which said real estate is situated, upon an order of such court, made upon petition filed by guardian. All conveyances made under this provision by heirs who are full-blood Indians are to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe."
"SEC. 23. Every person of lawful age and sound mind may by last will and testament devise and bequeath all of his estate, real and personal, and all interest therein; Provided, that no will of a full-blood Indian devising real estate shall be valid if such last will and testament disinherits the parent, wife, spouse, or children of such full-blood Indian unless acknowledged before and approved by a judge of the United States court for the Indian Territory or a United States Commissioner."
34 Stat. 137, c. 1876.

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