Whiteman v. Severance

• Decision Date: 07 July 1891
• Citation: 46 Minn. 495
• Parties: ALONZO J. WHITEMAN <I>vs.</I> C. A. SEVERANCE and another.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

46 Minn. 495

ALONZO J. WHITEMAN vs. C. A. SEVERANCE and another.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 7, 1891.

Appeal by plaintiff from a judgment of the district court for St. Louis county, entered on the pleadings, pursuant to an order by Stearns, J.

Wm. W. Billson and Flandrau, Squires & Cutcheon, for appellant.

Draper & Davis, C. K. Davis, and Frank B. Kellogg, for respondents.

COLLINS, J.

The determination of this action requires of the court a construction of some parts of an act of the legislature approved April 24, 1889, entitled "An act to regulate the sale and lease of mineral and other lands belonging to the state of Minnesota," now chapter 22, Laws 1889. Judgment on the pleadings in defendants' favor was ordered by the court below, the appeal being from the judgment. From these pleadings it appears that on the afternoon of the day last mentioned, immediately after the approval of the act by the governor, the defendant Severance filed with the commissioner of the state land-office his application for a lease upon and for the premises described in the complaint, mineral lands then belonging to the state, and on the next day paid to the state treasurer the sum of money prescribed in section 2 of said act. On the 25th day of April the plaintiff filed his application for a lease of the same tract of land with the commissioner, and later, on the same day, one Geggie filed his application for a lease of the same premises, with the land-commissioner. Subsequently, and prior to the 1st day of March, 1890, applications for leases of the land were filed with the commissioner by two other persons. No further applications were made, so far as has been shown. Each of the persons filing applications subsequently to that filed by defendant Severance were refused leases by the commissioner, and, according to the allegations of the complaint, duly assigned and transferred to plaintiff all rights and interests acquired by them by reason of their applications, long before the commencement of this action. On the day last mentioned the commissioner, acting undoubtedly upon the belief that the person who made the first application after the approval of the legislative enactment was entitled thereto, issued two leases upon and for said tract of land to defendant Severance, each being for a part of the tract; and on the same day contracts were made and entered into by and between the commissioner and said Severance, as provided for in sections 3 and 4 of the act, covering the land described in the leases. Thereupon Severance assigned and conveyed to the defendant corporation the leases and contracts held by him, the latter having full notice and knowledge of all of the facts before mentioned. It further appears that the corporation has entered upon the land, and has actively engaged in excavating ore therefrom, as was contemplated in the leases. The relief demanded by plaintiff was that the last-named defendant be adjudged to hold the leases and contracts in trust for him, and that he be declared and decreed the owner of each.

The plaintiff contends that the application made by Severance on April 24th was premature, and therefore inoperative. It was filed, unquestionably, before the act of the legislature took effect. This was April 25th, the day following that on which the governor's signature of approval was affixed to it. Duncan v. Cobb, 32 Minn. 460, (21 N. W. Rep. 714;) Parkinson v. Brandenburg, 35 Minn. 294, (28 N. W. Rep. 919.) It is further contended by plaintiff that his application, as the first in order after the law took effect, had precedence and secured to him a vested right to the lease applied for, — a right which the commissioner had no power to ignore. The defendant's position is that, by the terms of section 1 of the act, discretionary authority has been conferred upon the commissioner, not only as to whether he will execute leases, but in respect to persons to whom the leases may be issued; that the application for a lease provided for in the law is but a mere proposal, which may be accepted or rejected at will; and hence that it was wholly within the power of the commissioner to decline the application or proposal made by plaintiff, and at the same time accept that irregularly made by defendant Severance. It is also argued that, if it be held that the person who first makes application is entitled to the lease, the proper tribunal has determined the question as one of fact, that its conclusion is not reviewable by a court of equity, and that the commissioner's...