Richard Ballinger v. United States Ex Relatione Belle Frost Belle Frost
| Decision Date | 21 February 1910 |
| Docket Number | No. 54,54 |
| Citation | 216 U.S. 240,54 L.Ed. 464,30 S.Ct. 338 |
| Parties | RICHARD A. BALLINGER, Secretary of the Interior, Plff. in Err., v. UNITED STATES EX RELATIONE BELLE FROST. BELLE FROST |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Assistant Attorneys General Harr and Lawler for plaintiff in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 241-243 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Charles H. Merillat, Charles J. Kappler, H. C. Potterf, and E. A. Walker for defendant in error.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 243-244 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:
The defendant in error, a citizen and resident of the Choctaw Nation in the Indian territory, whose enrolment had been approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and who was entitled to an allotment under the acts of Congress, on December 20, 1906, filed her petition in the supreme court of the District of Columbia for a mandamus compelling the Secretary of the Interior to deliver, or cause to be delivered, to her a patent to a tract of land consisting of 40 acres, located in the Choctaw Nation in the Indian territory, and which she had selected in accordance with law. The then Secretary of the Interior, Ethan A. Hitchcock, filed an answer, giving his reasons for declining to issue that patent. Subsequently, James R. Garfield, becoming Secretary of the Interior, was substituted as defendant, and filed an amended answer. A demurrer to the amended answer having been sustained judgment was entered as prayed for, which was affirmed by the court of appeals of the District, and thereupon the case was brought to this court. After the record had been filed in this court, and during the present term, Richard A. Ballinger, the successor of Secretary Garfield, was substituted for him as plaintiff in error.
The facts essential to a decision are briefly these: By treaty between the Choctaw Nation and the United States, dated September 27, 1830 (7 Stat. at L. 333), and the proclamation of the President of the United States of February 24, 1831, the United States caused 'to be conveyed to the Choctaw Nation a tract of country west of the Mississippi river, in fee simple to them and their descendants, to inure to them while they shall exist as a nation and live on it.' By subsequent treaties and agreements the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations were consolidated. The nations have not become extinct, and are still resident on the lands. The act of June 28, 1898 (30 Stat. at L. 495, chap. 517), authorized the allotment of the land to the Choctaws and Chickasaws in fair and equal proportions, and provided that this should be done under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior; also, that as soon as practicable after the completion of the said allotment, the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation and the governor of the Chickasaw Nation should jointly execute, under their hands and the seals of their respective nations, and deliver to their allottees, patents conveying to them all the right, title, and interest of the Indians in and to the lands allotted. The act of May 31, 1900 (31 Stat. at L. 221, chap. 598), also authorized the Secretary of the Interior to lay out, survey, and plat the sites of such towns as then had a population of two hundred or more, and that he might, upon the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, at any time before the allotment, set aside and reserve, not exceeding 160 acres in any one tract, at such stations as were or should be established on the line of any railway which should be constructed or be in process of construction in or through either of said nations prior to the allotment of the lands therein. These town-site provisions were incorporated into the act of March 1, 1901 (31 Stat. at L. 848, 851, chap. 675).
On October 26, 1900, the town site of Mill Creek, containing 155.45 acres, on which there was a railway station, was designated and laid out. The land in controversy is adjacent to that town site. Section 45 of the act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. at L. 641, chap. 1362), authorized an addition to such town sites on the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, not exceeding 640 acres, and the appropriation act of March 3, 1903 (32 Stat. at L. 982, 996, chap. 994), appropriated $25,000 to pay the town-site expenses, with this proviso:
'That the money hereby appropriated shall be applied only to the expenses incident to the survey, platting, and appraisement of town sites heretofore set aside and reserved from allotment: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the survey and platting at their own expense of town sites by private parties where stations are located along the lines of railroads, nor the unrestricted alienation of lands for such purposes, when recommended by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and approved by the Secretary of the Interior.'
On February 17, 1903, the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes made recommendation that this adjacent land be scgregated as an addition to Mill Creek, under the provisions of the act of July 1, 1902, supra. This recommendation, having been approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was by him transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior, who, on March 18, 1903, addressed a letter to the Commission, reciting the segregation of Mill Creek town site on October 26, 1900, and the recommendation of the Commission, approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and said: 'The Department does not deem it advisable to make the recommendation, in view of the act of March 3, 1903.' On July 23, 1903, the relator selected as her allotment the land in controversy, upon which were her buildings and improvements. This was received by the Commission, and nine months thereafter, the time prescribed by statute for contest (act of July 1, 1902, supra) having elapsed, and no contest of her right to the designated allotment having been made, a certificate of allotment was issued and delivered to her. Thereafter the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation and the governor of the Chickasaw Nation jointly executed a patent under the seals of their respective nations, conveying to her the title of said nations in and to said 40 acres of land. Sections 23 and 24 of the act of July 1, 1902, supra, read as follows:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
West Coast Exploration Co. v. McKay
...(1923); Wilbur v. United States ex rel. Krushnic, 280 U.S. 306, 50 S.Ct. 103, 74 L.Ed. 445 (1930); Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Frost, 216 U.S. 240, 30 S.Ct. 338, 54 L.Ed. 464 (1910). See also discussion in Noble v. Union River Logging R. Co., 147 U.S. 165, 13 S.Ct. 271, 37 L.Ed. 123 ......
-
Clackamas County, Ore. v. McKay
...Secretary to reinstate an erased name upon Indian rolls for undistributed share in lands); Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Frost, 1910, 216 U.S. 240, 30 S. Ct. 338, 54 L.Ed. 464 (to compel issuance of a land patent); Daniels v. Wagner, 1915, 237 U.S. 547, 35 S.Ct. 740, 59 L.Ed. 1102 (in ......
-
State of Washington v. Udall
...S.Ct. 314, 65 L.Ed. 598 (1921); Lane v. Hoglund, 244 U.S. 174, 37 S.Ct. 558, 61 L.Ed. 1066 (1917); Ballinger v. United States ex rel. Frost, 216 U.S. 240, 30 S.Ct. 338, 54 L.Ed. 464 (1910). Judge Browning of our court, in a thorough study of the Larson-Malone-Dugan trilogy, has written that......
-
Weeks v. Goltra
...223 U. S. 607, 32 S. Ct. 340, 56 L. Ed. 570; Lane v. Watts, 234 U. S. 525, 34 S. Ct. 965, 58 L. Ed. 1440; Ballinger v. Frost, 216 U. S. 240, 30 S. Ct. 338, 54 L. Ed. 464; and kindred As the title to the property involved in this controversy is concededly in the United States, and plaintiff ......