Territory ex rel. Sampson v. Clark

• Decision Date: 02 May 1894
• Citation: 2 Okla. 82,35 P. 882,1894 OK 57
• Parties: TERRITORY ex rel. SAMPSON et al., Board of County Commissioners v. CLARK, Township Trustee
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1894 OK 57

35 P. 882

2 Okla. 82

TERRITORY ex rel.SAMPSON et al., Board of County Commissioners v. CLARK, Township Trustee

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: May 2, 1894

SYLLABUS

¶0 1. Under the provisions of section 541 of article 21 of chapter 66, p. 852, of the Statutes of Oklahoma of 1893, parties to a question which might be the subject of a civil action may agree upon a case containing the facts of the controversy, and submit the same to any court which would have jurisdiction if an action had been brought, and the court shall render judgment as if an action were pending.

2. In the construction of statutes, it is a cardinal rule that the intention of the legislature must govern.

3. In the construction of statutes, when the intention of the legislature can be gathered from the statute, words may be modified, altered, or supplied to give to the enactment the force and effect which the legislature intended.

4. Also, in such interpretation, the intention of the legislature must be ascertained by a construction of the whole act, or enactment or enactment of the legislature on the same subject.

5. In construing an act the court should, if possible, so interpret all of the provisions of an enactment or enactments of the legislature as to harmonize their various provisions and, so far as possible, to give reasonable effect to all.

6. Construing the seventh subdivision of section 2 of article 1 of chapter 70, p. 1032, of the Statutes of Oklahoma of 1893, which provides that "all breaking, wells or fertilizing upon lands upon which final proof has not been made" shall be exempt from taxation, together with subdivision 15 of section 3 of the same article, which provides that "all other property, real and personal, of any kind not including improvements upon government lands, or lots not deeded," shall be subject to taxation; also, together with subdivision 15 of section 1 of article 2 of the same chapter, which provides that the list of taxable property made by the assessor and assessed to each person shall contain "all other property not specially enumerated in this section by its actual cash value, except such as is specially exempted by section two of this chapter,"-it is held that the legislature intended that all improvements upon government lands, except all breaking, wells, or fertilizing, and also lots not deeded, on lands where final proof and final entry had been made, are subject to taxation.

Original application at the relation of John J. Sampson and others, as board of county commissioners of Logan county, for mandamus to compel A. Z. Clark, trustee and assessor of Spring Creek township, to list for taxation certain property. Granted.

Harris Houston, for plaintiff.

BIERER, J.

¶1 This is an agreed case in mandamus, submitted as an original proceeding in this court to determine in a summary manner the legal question involved under the provisions of general section 4419, (section 541, art. 21, c. 66, p. 852, St. Okl. 1893,) which provides: "Sec. 541. Parties to a question, which might be the subject of a civil action, may, without action, agree upon a case containing the facts upon which the controversy depends, and present a submission of the same to any court, which would have jurisdiction if an action had been brought. But it must appear, byaffidavit, that the controversy is real, and the proceedings in good faith to determine the rights of the parties. The court shall thereupon hear and determine the case, and render judgment as if an action were pending." All of the provisions of this section have been fully complied with, and we will determine the question involved the same as if it had been brought before us by an original action in the usual form. The sole question involved in this controversy is as to whether or not improvements upon government lands and lots not deeded, excepting the breaking, wells, and fertilizing upon lands upon which final proof has not been made, are subject to taxation; and this question involves the construction of certain sections of the revenue law of this territory.

¶2 The legislature of 1893 passed an act. which took effect March 14, 1893, entitled "An act to provide for the raising and collecting of revenue, and repealing chapter 75 of the Statutes of Oklahoma, entitled â??Revenueâ??." St. Okl. 1893, p. 1031. The seventh subdivision of section 2 of article 1 of said act (c. 70, p. 1032, St. Okl. 1893) is, with the heading of the section, which must be read to get the meaning thereof, as follows: "Sec. 2. The following classes of property shall be exempt from taxation, and may be omitted from the list herein required to be given:" "Seventh: All breaking, wells or fertilizing upon lands upon which final proof has not been made." Section 3 of the same article, excepting the first 14 subdivisions thereof, is as follows: "Sec. 3. All other property, real and personal, shall be subject to taxation in the manner provided in this act:" "Fifteenth. All other property, real and personal, of any kind, not including improvements upon government lands, or lots not deeded." Subdivision 15 of section 1 of article 2 of said act, which provides for the manner of listing property, and what the list of taxable property made by the assessor and assessed to each person shall contain, provides as follows: "Fifteenth. All other property not specially enumerated in this section by its actual cash value, except such as is specially exempted by section two of this chapter." This last provision, referring to "section two of this chapter," was evidently intended to refer to section 2 of article 1 of this chapter, for that is the only section 2 contained in any part of this chapter which refers to the exemption of property from taxation.

¶3 This controversy depends upon the construction to be given by the court to the fifteenth subdivision of section 3 of article 1, above given. It is contended by the assessor that the subdivision referred to exempts from taxation all improvements upon government land, and all lots not deeded. This part of this statute upon its face seems to read that way, but in construing it we must consider the well-known rules for the construction of statutes. In the construction of statutes it is a cardinal rule that the intention of the legislature must govern. Suth. St. Const. § 218; Sedg. St. & Const. Law, p. 325. Also, that when the intention can be gathered from the statute, words may be modified, altered, or supplied to give to the enactment the force and effect which the legislature intended. Suth. St. Const. § 218. In the Eureka Case, 4 Sawy. 302-317, Fed. Cas. No. 4548, Judge Field, delivering the opinion of the court, said: "Instances without number exist where the meaning of words in a statute has been enlarged, or restricted and qualified, to carry out the intention of the legislature. The inquiry, where any uncertainty exists, always is as to what the legislature intended, and when that is ascertained it controls." Another rule for the interpretation of statutes is that the intention of the legislature must be ascertained by a construction of the whole act, and all of the enactment or enactments of the legislature on the same subject must be so construed as to "harmonize their various provisions and, so far as possible, to give reasonable effect to all." State v. Cobb, 2 Kan. 32; State v. Young, 17 Kan. 414; Commissioners v. Morrall, 19 Kan. 141; Gardenhiro v. Mitchell, 21 Kan. 83; Wenger v. Taylor, (Kan.) 18 Pac. 911; Pond v. Maddox, 38 Cal. 572. In the light of these rules, reading the fifteenth subdivision of section 3 of article 1 of chapter 70 in connection with the seventh subdivision of section 2 of article 1, and in connection with the fifteenth subdivision of section 1 of article 2, all of the same chapter, it will be manifest that there is an apparent conflict between the fifteenth subdivision of section 3 of article 1, and all the other provisions of the same enactment; and we must, if possible, harmonize them so as to give effect to all provisions of this enactment of the legislature in accordance with the legislative intent. It will be observed that the seventh subdivision of section 2 of article 1 is contained in an article, entitled "Property Subject to Taxation," the first section of which gives the general classes of property subject to taxation, the second section, under which the seventh subdivision occurs, relates to specific property which is exempt from taxation. Under this provision, the legislature, when it had under consideration the question as to what property in the way of improvements upon government lands upon which final proof had not been made, designated three specific items which should be exempt from such taxation. These were breaking, wells, and fertilizing. The fifteenth subdivision of section 3, which is the bone of contention and makes the trouble, is contained under section 3 of article 1, which relates to the kinds of property which shall be subject to taxation, and does not relate to the exemption of property from taxation; and we believe, construing the statute and these provisions together, that, if the legislature had intended that all improvements upon government lands and all lots not deeded should be exempt from taxation, they would have shown such intent by enumerating these articles as exempt from taxation under the seventh or some other subdivision of section 2 of article 1. This chapter 7 of our revenue law is a substantial re-enactment of the provisions of chapter 75 of the Laws of Oklahoma of 1890, relating to revenue, with certain modifications. The two enactments are drawn under the same heading and the same title, excepting the addition of the repealing part that is added to the last enactment. They have the same number of articles, excepting that to the present chapter 70 is added an article relating to the extension of the time for the payment of the taxes of 1893, and each article is given the same...