State of Oklahoma v. State of Texas United States, 23

• Decision Date: 11 April 1921
• Docket Number: O,No. 23,23
• Citation: 65 L.Ed. 831,256 U.S. 70,41 S.Ct. 420
• Parties: STATE OF OKLAHOMA v. STATE OF TEXAS (UNITED STATES, Intervener). riginal
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

256 U.S. 70

41 S.Ct. 420

65 L.Ed. 831

STATE OF OKLAHOMA

v STATE OF TEXAS (UNITED STATES, Intervener).

No. 23, Original.

Argued Dec. 14 and 15, 1920.

Decided April 11, 1921.

Mr. Leslie C. Garnett, of Washington, D. C., for the United States.

[Argument of Counsel from page 71 intentionally omitted] Messrs. C. M. Cureton, of Austin, Tex., and Thomas Watt Gregory, of Washington, D. C., for State of Texas.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 72-81 intentionally omitted]

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Messrs. Joseph Weldon Bailey, of Austin, Tex., and A. H. Carrigan, of Wichita Falls, Tex., for landowners.

Mr. S. P. Freeling, of Oklahoma City, Okl., for State of Oklahoma.

Mr. Justice PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit in equity in our original jurisdiction, brought by the state of Oklahoma against the state of Texas, to establish the true boundary line between those states where it follows the course of the Red river from the 100th degree of west longitude to the easterly boundary of Oklahoma. The bill avers that by the third article of a treaty concluded February 22, 1819, and ratified and proclaimed February 22, 1821 (8 Stat. 252), between the United States of America and the King of Spain, who had sovereignty over the territory now known as Texas, but then a part of Mexico, the boundary line

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between the two countries where formed by the Red river was established as following the south bank of that stream; that after Mexico had become independent, and on January 12, 1828, a treaty was concluded, and on April 5, 1832, ratified and proclaimed, between the United States of America and the United Mexican States by which the validity of the Treaty of 1819 was confirmed (8 Stat. 372); that in the year 1837 Texas was recognized as an independent republic, no longer under the power and jurisdiction of Mexico, and on April 25, 1838, a treaty was concluded, and in the same year ratified and proclaimed, between the United States and the Republic of Texas, by which the boundary as thus established was accepted by that Republic as binding (8 Stat. 511); and that under joint resolutions of Congress dated respectively March 1 and December 29, 1845 (5 Stat. 797; 9 Stat. 108), Texas was admitted into the Union as a state, with 'the territory properly included within and rightfully belonging to the Republic of Texas.' That by act of Congress approved May 2, 1890, a temporary government was provided for a part of the territory adjoining said boundary on the north, now comprised in the state of Oklahoma, under the name of the territory of Oklahoma (chapter 182, 26 Stat. 81), and that by section 29 (page 93) the remaining part was designated as the Indian Territory; but that by section 25 (page 92), in view of the existence of a controversy between the United States and the state of Texas as to the ownership of what was known as Greer county, described as 'the tract of land lying between the North and South forks of the Red river where the Indian Territory and the state of Texas adjoin, east of the one hundredth degree of longitude,' it was provided that the act should not apply to that county until the title thereto had been adjudicated and determined to be in the United States; and, in order to provide for a speedy and final judicial determination of the controversy, the Attorney General

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was authorized and directed to commence in the name and behalf of the United States and prosecute to a final determination a suit in equity in this court against the state of Texas; that accordingly, at the October term, 1895 (1890), the Attorney General of the United States filed in this court an original bill against the state of Texas to determine whether the territory embraced within the then county of Greer was in the state of Texas or within the territory and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States; that after a full hearing of said cause this court found, decided, and decreed that the territory east of the 100th meridian of longitude, west and south of the river now known as the North fork of Red river, and north of a line following westward, as prescribed by the Treaty of 1819, the course, and along the south bank, both of Red river and of the river now known as the Prairie Dog Town fork or South fork of Red river until such line meets the 100th meridian of longitude, constitutes no part of the territory properly included within or rightfully belonging to Texas at the time of the admission of that state into the Union, and was not within the limits nor under the jurisdiction of that state, but was subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States of America (162 U. S. 1, 90, 91, 16 Sup. Ct. 725, 40 L. Ed. 867), and that afterwards, under act of Congress approved June 16, 1906 (chapter 3335, 34 Stat. 267), the inhabitants of the area constituting the territory of Oklahoma (including said Greer county) and the Indian Territory were admitted into the Union as the state of Oklahoma.

The state of Texas appeared in the present suit, and filed an answer, denying that the Treaty of 1819 fixed the boundary at the South bank of the Red river; asserting, on the contrary, that the treaty, by its legal meaning and effect, fixed it in the middle of the main channel of that river; denying that the effect of the decree in the case of United States v. Texas was to determine that the south

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bank of Red river, or of the Prairie Dog Town fork or South fork of that river, constituted the boundary between the United States and Texas at any point; and setting up a counterclaim and other matters not necessary to be here repeated.

The United States, by leave of the court, intervened, and by its petition of intervention set up an interest as trustee of Indian allottees with respect to certain portions of the bed of the Red river and as owner in its own right of a large part of the bed and of numerous islands therein; and supported the contentions of the state of Oklahoma as to the location of the boundary line by the true construction of theTreaty of 1819 and as to the effect of the final decree in United States v. Texas.

At the same time it was brought to the attention of the court that because of the recent discovery and development of oil and gas deposits in the bed of the river adjacent to Wichita county, Tex., serious conflicts had arisen between parties claiming title from the state of Texas and others claiming title from the state of Oklahoma or under the mineral laws of the United States; and that there was danger of the exhaustion of the deposits of oil and gas pending the determination of the questions at issue between the parties to the cause, and danger of armed conflict between rival claimants under them; and thereupon, on motion of the United States, concurred in by the state of Oklahoma and consented to by the state of Texas, as to lands claimed in its proprietary capacity, we appointed a receiver to take possession of that part of the river bed lying between mid-channel and the south bank, and within the disputed oil field.

Pending the receivership, by order of June 7, 1920, made pursuant to the suggestion of the parties, we set the cause down for hearing at the present term upon two questions of law, with leave to take testimony pertinent to the purpose. 253 U. S. 471, 40 Sup. Ct. 580, 64 L. Ed. 1015.

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The testimony was taken and returned, a hearing has been had, and the matter is now to be decided.

The questions are as follows:

'(1) Is the decree of this court in United States v. Texas, 162 U. S. 1, 16 Sup. Ct. 725, 40 L. Ed. 867, final and conclusive upon the parties to this cause in so far as it declares that the Treaty of 1819 between the United States and Spain fixed the boundary along the south bank of Red river? (2) If said decree is not conclusive, then did the Treaty of 1819, construed in the light of pertinent public documents and acts, fix the boundary along the midchannel of Red river or along the south bank of said river?'

The first is a question of res judicata, and, obviously, if it is answered in the affirmative, the second becomes immaterial.

The general principle, applied in numerous decisions of this court, and definitely accepted in Southern Pacific R. R. v. United States, 168 U. S. 1, 48, 49, 18 Sup. Ct. 18, 42 L. Ed. 355, is, that a question of fact or of law distinctly put in issue and directly determined by a court of competent jurisdiction as a ground of recovery or defense in a suit or action between parties sui juris is conclusively settled by the final judgment or decree therein so that it cannot be further litigated in a subsequent suit between the same parties or their privies whether the second suit be for the same or a different cause of action. As was declared by Mr. Justice Harlan, speaking for the court in the case cited on page 49 of 168 U. S., on page 27 of 18 Sup. Ct. (42 L. Ed. 355):

'This general rule is demanded by the very object for which civil courts have been established, which is to secure the peace and repose of society by the settlement of matters capable of judicial determination. Its enforcement is essential to the maintenance of social order; for, the aid of judicial tribunals would not be invoked for the vindication of rights of person and property, if, as between parties and their privies, conclusiveness did not attend the judgments of such tribunals in respect of

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all matters properly put in issue and actually determined by them.'

In order to aid us in ascertaining whether the question of boundary location now at issue was settled by the decision and decree in the Greer County Case, the parties have stipulated that the entire record in that case, including pleadings, stipulations, testimony, briefs, and documents of every character, now on file in this court, and the orders and decrees of the court therein, are to be considered in evidence for all purposes. They have been examined and considered accordingly.

The...