McCandless v. James Pratt

• Decision Date: 21 December 1908
• Docket Number: No. 109,109
• Citation: 29 S.Ct. 144,53 L.Ed. 271,211 U.S. 437
• Parties: L. L. MCCANDLESS, Plff. in Err., v. JAMES W. PRATT, Commissioner of Public Lands of the Territory of Hawaii
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

211 U.S. 437

29 S.Ct. 144

53 L.Ed. 271

L. L. MCCANDLESS, Plff. in Err.,

v JAMES W. PRATT, Commissioner of Public Lands of the Territory of Hawaii.

No. 109.

Argued November 6, 9, 1908.

Decided December 21, 1908.

Messrs. Aldis B. Browne, A. G. M. Robertson, and Alexander Britton for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 438 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Charles R. Hemenway and Henry E. Cooper for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 439 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff in error, who was plaintiff in the court below, and whom therefore we shall refer to as plaintiff, brought this suit in the circuit court of the first judicial circuit, territory of Hawaii, at chambers, to enjoin George R. Carter, governor of the territory, and the defendant, commissioner of public lands of the territory, from exchanging certain lands of the territory for other lands.

The governor promulgated, on 29th of November, 1906, the following order:

'Lanai Lands.—Notice is hereby given that, having decided an exchange of the public lands of the island of Lanai to be advisable, the commissioner of public lands in prepared to receive offers of other lands that are equal in value to those of Lanai, and of greater immediate service to the territorial government, from any responsible person, up to and including Saturday, the 15th day of December, 1906.'

The island of Lanai contains a total area of 86,400 acres, of which the territory owns 47,679 acres. The lands owned by the territory are divided into five tracts, and are under lease to one Charles Gay for annual rentals which amount in all to the sum of $1,600. These facts are alleged in the bill, and that the tracts are of great value,—one containing 8,000 acres of land, which is good grazing land, and has 3 miles of sea frontage, and extends inland 6 miles, being worth $40,000. Another tract, it is alleged, is of the same kind of land, and has a sea frontage of 5 1/2 miles and an inland depth of 6 miles, and is worth $37,000. The other tracts are of the value of $5,000.

It is alleged that Pratt, as commissioner, threatens to and will exchange such lands for other lands if he receives an offer therefor from a responsible person, and that the governor will consent and approve the exchange unless he and Pratt be enjoined. It is further alleged that Pratt has no legal right to make the exchange nor the governor to approve it.

It is further alleged that the intended and proposed exchange of lands 'is not proposed by way of compromise or equitable settlement of the rights of any claimants, nor by way of exchange for parcels of lands acquired for any road or roads, nor for a site or sites of a government building or buildings, nor for any other governmental purpose or purposes.'

An injunction was prayed against the exchange and against issuing land patents for the lands received in exchange. A temporary injunction was granted, which, upon the motion of the governor, was dissolved, and the bill dismissed as to him. Pratt demurred to the bill, and urged as grounds thereof that the bill was insufficient, that it did not appear that he, as commissioner, was doing or about to do any act in violation of law, that plaintiff had no legal capacity to sue, that no injury was threatened or otherwise to plaintiff, that he was not sufficiently interested to be entitled to an injunction or to any relief in a court of equity, that the complaint was not properly verified, and that the allegation that the defendant, as commissioner, had no legal authority to exchange public lands, was a conclusion of law.

The demurrer was overruled, the court holding that the plaintiff had the right to bring and maintain the suit, and that the proposed exchange of lands was 'unlawful, illegal, and unwarranted.' Ten days were given to further plead, and, in default of which, the injunction was to be made permanent. The decree was reversed by the supreme court of the territory. 18 Haw. 221. This writ of error was then sued out and George R. Carter, governor, named therein as a defendant, but the writ was subsequently dismissed as to him, on motion of his successor, the present governor.

The supreme court of Hawaii assumed, without definitely deciding, that the plaintiff had a right to maintain the suit. The question of the validity of the exchange it decided against the contention of the plaintiff, holding that the commissioner had the power to make the exchange. Of the right of plaintiff to sue, the court said that it had been adjudicated in that court that a citizen and taxpayer had a right to obtain an injunction against official acts involving unauthorized use of public funds. To sustain this view the court cited Castle v. Kapena, 5 Haw. 27; Lucas v. American Hawaiian Engineering & Constr. Co. 16 Haw. 80; Castle v. Atkinson, 16 Haw. 769. It is an implication, from the comment of the court, that the ground of those decisions was the pecuniary loss that would come to the taxpayer from the action sought to be restrained. But the court, however, went farther, and said that perhaps the right of the taxpayer to 'restrain official acts affecting public property ought not to be based on the pecuniary loss, howsoever trivial or conjectural, but on the broad ground that any citizen may obtain a judicial inquiry into the validity of such acts, and an injunction against them if found to be unauthorized.' The court remarked, however, that, on account of the view it entertained of the validity of the acts of the officers, it would not decide the question of the right of the plaintiff to sue. On neither question are we called upon to pass, nor are we required to...