Jennings v. Wood
| Decision Date | 21 November 1911 |
| Docket Number | 3,409. |
| Citation | 192 F. 507 |
| Parties | JENNINGS v. WOOD et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Robert J. Boone (George C. Butte, on the brief), for appellant.
William J. Gregg, for appellees.
Before SANBORN and HOOK, Circuit Judges, and W. H. MUNGER, District judge.
This is a suit by Wood and Rowe to cancel an oil and gas lease for 15 years to Jennings of certain lands in the state of Oklahoma which, formerly belonging to the Cherokee Tribe of Indians had been allotted and patented to the lessor who was an enrolled citizen of the tribe. The ground for cancellation is that when the lease was made the lessor was a minor incapable of contracting personally and that it was made without the participation of the guardian of her estate or the order of any court of competent jurisdiction. It is alleged in the bill that upon becoming of age the lessor disaffirmed the lease, tendered to Jennings what she had of him with interest, and, the tender being refused, she afterwards conveyed to the complainants. Jennings presented a plea in bar in which he set forth that the lessor executed the lease as an adult, that it conformed to the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior for leases of that character, that the Secretary required and was furnished evidence as to the age of the lessor, and after considering the same, found she was of age, and also that the terms of the lease were fair and reasonable, and then approved it. Otherwise there was no denial in the plea that in fact the lessor was a minor. The trial court held the plea insufficient, and Jennings standing thereon and the tender being kept good, it rendered a decree against him. Jennings appealed.
It is contended that the approval of the lease by the Secretary of the Interior was the act of a tribunal exercising judicial power, and that as the approval necessarily involved the contractual capacity of the lessor his finding that she was of age is conclusive when attacked in this way. The statute pointed out as conferring jurisdiction upon the Secretary of the Interior is section 72 of the act of July 1, 1902, c 1375, 32 Stat. 716. It authorizes Cherokee citizens to rent their allotments for certain limited periods for grazing and agricultural purposes, but provides that 'leases for a period longer than one year for grazing purposes and for a period longer than five years for agricultural purposes, and for mineral purposes, may also be made with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and not otherwise. ' Leases made in violation of the section are declared absolutely void and not susceptible of ratification nor of validation by estoppel.
The jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior is only that expressed in the acts of Congress. He was not constituted the...
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...act enjoined upon the Secretary of the Interior is in no sense judicial, but, on the other hand, is purely ministerial. Jennings v. Wood, 192 F. 507, 112 C. C. A. 657. It follows the making of a bargain between the heir or heirs and the intending purchaser. The Secretary's jurisdiction is i......
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Whitebird v. Eagle-Picher Lead Co.
...U. S. 570, 41 S. Ct. 204, 65 L. Ed. 410; Turner v. Seep (C. C.) 167 F. 646; Midland Oil Co. v. Turner (C. C. A.) 179 F. 74; Jennings v. Wood (C. C. A.) 192 F. 507; United States v. Brown (D. C.) 15 F.(2d) 565; Hampton v. Ewert (C. C. A.) 22 F.(2d) Unusual stress has been placed upon the cas......
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Mott v. United States, 78
...665, 677, 32 S. Ct. 565, 56 L. Ed. 941. And see Lane v. Pueblo of Santa Rosa, 249 U. S. 110, 113, 39 S. Ct. 185, 63 L. Ed. 504. 7 Jennings v. Wood, 192 F. 507. ...