Parker v. Richard

• Decision Date: 02 June 1919
• Docket Number: Nos. 313 and 563,s. 313 and 563
• Citation: 39 S.Ct. 442,250 U.S. 235,63 L.Ed. 954
• Parties: PARKER, Superintendent of Five Civilized Tribes, et al. v. RICHARD et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

250 U.S. 235

39 S.Ct. 442

63 L.Ed. 954

PARKER, Superintendent of Five Civilized Tribes, et al.

v RICHARD et al.

Nos. 313 and 563.

Argued April 24, 1919.

Decided June 2, 1919.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Kearful, for appellants.

Messrs. Britton H. Tabor and James B. Lucas, both of Checotah, Okl., for appellees.

Mr. Justice VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit to enjoin two representatives of the Secretary of the Interior—the Superintendent and the cashier of the Five Civilized Tribes—from collecting future royalties on an oil and gas lease of land allotted to a Creek Indian and to compel them to surrender royalties already collected. In the District Court there was a decree for the defendants, which the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, one judge dissenting (Richard v. Parker), 245 Fed. 330, 157 C. C. A. 522. The District Court then complied with the mandate by entering a decree for the plaintiffs, and this the Circuit Court of Appeals declined to disturb. 257 Fed. 990. Appeals from the decisions of the latter bring the case here.

The questions to be considered are whether the land covered by the lease is land from which restrictions on alienation have been removed, and whether the supervisory authority of the Secretary of the Interior over the collection, care and disbursement of the royalties has terminated.

The land was part of the Creek tribal lands and was allotted under Act March 1, 1901, c. 676, 31 Stat. 861, and Act June 30, 1902, c. 1323, 32 Stat. 500; the allottee being a minor and an enrolled Indian of the full blood. In 1912, while he was yet a minor, the oil and gas lease was given by his guardian; the lease being approved by the court having jurisdiction of his estate and by the Secretary of the Interior. The allottee died in 1916, while still a minor, and left his father, a full-blood Creek Indian, as his only heir. Approximately $280,000 in royalties have accrued under the lease—part before and part since the allottee died. These royalties have been collected by the defendants pursuant to the terms of the lease and the regulations of the Secretary of the Interior and are being held by them in trust under a provision in the regulations which authorizes them to retain and care for such funds 'until such time or times as the payment thereof is considered best for the benefit of said lessor, or his or her heirs.' The plaintiffs are the administrators of the estate of the deceased allottee.

By section 1 of the Act of May 27, 1908, c. 199, 35 Stat. 312, Congress declared that——

'All allotted lands of enrolled full-bloods, and enrolled mixed-bloods of three-quarters of more Indian blood, including minors of such degrees of blood, shall not be subject to alienation, contract to sell, power of attorney, or any other incumbrance prior to April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-one, except that the Secretary of the Interior may remove such restrictions, wholly or in part, under such rules and regulations concerning terms of sale and disposal of the proceeds for the benefit of the respective Indians as he may prescribe.'

There was no such removal in this instance and it is conceded that at the date of the lease and at the time of the allottee's death the alienation of the land was still restricted.

By section 2 of the same act Congress declared that:

'Leases of restricted lands for oil, gas or other mining purposes * * * may be made, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, under rules and regulations provided by the Secretary of the Interior, and not otherwise.'

The lease was given under this provision and was to run for a term of ten years and as much longer as oil or gas might be found in paying quantity. It provided, conformably to the regulations, that the Secretary of the Interior, through his representatives, should supervise all operations under the lease, that the royalties thereunder should be paid to his representatives, that, with exceptions not material here, the regulations as then or thereafter in force should be deemed part of the lease, and that in the event restrictions on alienation should be removed the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior over the lease should be relinquished at once and all further royalties thereunder should be paid to the lessor or the then owner of the lands.

One of the regulations prescribed by the Secretary deals with the payment to lessors, their guardians, heirs, etc., of moneys collected as royalties by his representatives and specially authorizes the latter, as before indicated, to withhold such payment in whole or in part for such time as may be in accord with the best interests of the lessor or his heirs. It is under this regulation that the royalties already collected are being retained. The record indicates that a considerable portion of them has been invested in interest-bearing bonds of the United States, but as the propriety of this is not called in question, it...