Court Opinion

ID: 9538664
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:39:15.821899+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:04.367626
License: Public Domain

HALLEY, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I cannot agree with the majority opinion. There was no contention that the tax proceedings by which McClain County became vested with the title to the land in question were not regular. The title to the land was all in McClain County and Continental had no claim to the property. If the mortgagee in this case had been other than the Commissioners of the Land Office no one could say that the Continental had any interest. The Commissioners of the Land Office foreclosed their mortgage which only conveyed to them the surface and half of the minerals since the plaintiffs had purchased prior to the mortgage an undivided one-half interest in and to all of the oil, gas, and other minerals in and under and that may be produced from the land in question. When the Commissioners of the Land Office directed the Treasurer of McClain County to cancel the tax deed held by the County, the Treasurer could only cancel the interest that the Commissioners owned and that was the surface and half the minerals. This is required by 64 O.S.1951 § 151. It begins: “Upon the acquirement of the legal title of any lands by the Commissioners of the Land Office, either by * * * foreclosure of mortgage * * * the Secretary to the Commissioners of the Land Office shall certify * * *.”
This section refers to “such lands”, “said lands”, and “real estate involved” clearly shows that the Legislature only had in mind the land which the Commissioners of the Land Office actually got and not what they claimed or attempted to get.
The Continental’s claim to this one-half mineral interest had been wiped out by the tax deed and the Commissioners of the Land Office had no power, constitutional or otherwise, to reinvest in it the title to one-half of the mineral interest by requesting the County Treasurer to cancel a tax deed to an interest to which they had no claim.
The controversy between McClain County and the Commissioners of the Land Office is-one in which Continental has no concern.
The language in the majority opinion to' the effect that the surface owner was under obligation to the mineral owner to pay the-general taxes is without foundation. The obligation to pay taxes is to the taxing-authority. The mineral deed is not a mortgage. The general taxes were a lien against the entire interest in this land, both surface and mineral.
The Continental should be denied any relief because it sat by and saw the land sold for taxes. It was incumbent upon the Continental to pay the general taxes if not paid by someone else, if it expected to preserve its interest in the minerals and upon its *1007failure to see that the taxes were paid, should not now be allowed to assert a claim to this interest.
There is no reason why McClain County could not own one-half of the minerals in this land.