Brader v. James

• Decision Date: 04 March 1918
• Docket Number: No. 126,126
• Citation: 246 U.S. 88,38 S.Ct. 285,62 L.Ed. 591
• Parties: BRADER v. JAMES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

246 U.S. 88

38 S.Ct. 285

62 L.Ed. 591

BRADER

v JAMES.

No. 126.

Argued Jan. 7 and 8, 1918.

Decided March 4, 1918.

[Syllabus from pages 88-89 intentionally omitted] Messrs. E. A. Blythe, of Hugo, Okl., D. M. Tibbetts, of Guthrie, Okl., and J. H. Brader, of Hugo, Okl., for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Council on pages 89-91 intentionally omitted.]

Messrs. A. M. Works, of Hugo, Okl., and Joseph C. Stone, of Muskogee, Okl., for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 91-93 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice DAY delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case involves the right of Rachel James, a full-blood Choctaw Indian, to convey certain land. The land was originally allotted to Cerena Wallace under the Supplemental Agreement with the Choctaws and Chickasaws of July 1, 1902. 32 Stat. 641, c. 1362. As to the homestead allotment, which is here in question, section 12 of said agreement provided that it should be inalienable during the lifetime of the allottee, not exceeding 21 years from the date of the certificate of allotment. Cerena Wallace, mother of Rachel James, and herself a full-blood Choctaw Indian, died October 27, 1905, leaving her daugher, Rachel James, sole surviving heir at law. On August 17, 1907, Rachel James, joined by her husband, conveyed the land, embraced in the original homestead allotment with some other lands to Tillie Brader, who conveyed by quitclaim deed of September 13, 1909, to the plaintiff in error. The conveyance by Rachel James to Tillie Brader was not approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Rachel James prosecuted this suit to recover the land, and for use and occupation, thereof, basing her right of recovery on the fact that her conveyance had not been approved by the Secretary of the Interior. She succeeded in the court of original jurisdiction, and the judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. 49 Okl. 734, 154 Pac. 560.

The case as brought to our attention involves two questions:

(1) Could a full-blood Choctaw Indian after the passage of the Act of April 26, 1906, c. 1876, 34 Stat. 137, convey the lands inherited from a full-blood Choctaw Indian, to whom the lands had been allotted in her lifetime, without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior?

(2) If such conveyance were made valid by the act of Congress only with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, is such legislation constitutional?

As to the homestead allotment to the mother, Cerena Wallace, under the Supplemental Choctaw and Chickasaw Agreement of July 1, 1902, Rachel James as her heir at law received the land free from restriction, and had good right to convey the same unless prevented from so doing by the Act of April 26, 1906. Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834. As the conveyance here in question was subsequent to the Act of April 26, 1906, if that act covers the case, and is constitutional, Rachel James may not convey without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and the judgment below was right.

The Act of April 26, 1906, was before this court in Tiger v. Western Investment Co., 221 U. S. 286, 31 Sup. Ct. 578, 55 L. Ed. 738. In that case it was held that a full-blood Indian of the Creek Tribe after the passage of the Act of April 26, 1906, could not convey land which he had inherited, and which was allotted under the Act of Congress known as the Supplemental Creek Agreement of June 30, 1902, c. 1323, 32 Stat. 500, and as to which the five years named in section 16 of that act had not expired when Congress passed the Act of April 26, 1906, without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. In that case, as in this, a construction of section 22 of the last-named act was directly involved. That section provides:- '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.'

The conveyance by Rachel James is within the terms of the section as construed in the Tiger Case, unless the fact that...