William Wadkins v. Producer Oil Company

• Decision Date: 24 February 1913
• Docket Number: No. 638,638
• Citation: 227 U.S. 368,33 S.Ct. 380,57 L.Ed. 551
• Parties: WILLIAM H. WADKINS, Natural Tutor of Effie Bell Wadkins, Minor, Plff. in Err., v. PRODUCER OIL COMPANY and Atlanta & Shreveport Oil & Gas Company
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

227 U.S. 368

33 S.Ct. 380

57 L.Ed. 551

WILLIAM H. WADKINS, Natural Tutor of Effie Bell Wadkins, Minor, Plff. in Err.,

v PRODUCER OIL COMPANY and Atlanta & Shreveport Oil & Gas Company.

No. 638.

Argued January 31, 1913.

Decided February 24, 1913.

Messrs. S. L. Herold, J. A. Thigpen, and W. P. Hall for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Amos L. Beaty for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

Action brought in the first judicial district court of Louisiana, in and for the parish of Caddo, by plaintiff in error (and as he was plaintiff below, we shall so call him), against the defendants in error (herein referred to as defendants), for the recognition of Effie Bell Wadkins, represented by him as her natural tutor, as owner of an undivided one-half interest in and to the S. E. 1/4 of section 3, township 20 north, range 16 west, Caddo parish, Louisiana, and to put her in possession thereof, and to require the defendants to pay for all the oil and others minerals extracted therefrom; and, as tutor of said minor, to have judgment against them in solido for the market value of one half of all the oil, gas, and other minerals that have been produced up to date, and which may be produced.

Judgment was entered recognizing the minor as the owner of an undivided one-half interest in the land, as prayed, and for $86,328.24, the value of the oil extracted therefrom, with interest and costs. The right of the minor to a further accounting was also reserved. The judgment was reversed by the supreme court of the state. 130 La. 308, 57 So. 937.

The question in the case is whether a homestead entry made by the father of the minor is community property, her mother having died before the perfection of the entry.

The facts, as taken from the opinion of the supreme court, are as follows: In June, 1893, W. H. Wadkins, father of Effie, the minor, settled on the land with the view of acquiring it as a homestead. On February 25, 1895, he made application for and obtained a preliminary homestead entry at the proper local land office. At the end of five years, to wit, on September 8, 1898, he made final proof and secured a final homestead entry, upon which he subsequently obtained a patent.

Wadkins married the mother of the minor on June 24, 1894; she died December 5, 1896. Two children were born of this marriage, one of whom died at the age of two years; the other is the plaintiff.

The defendants are oil and gas companies operating in the Caddo oil and gas fields, the Producers Oil Company operating under a lease from the other company. The property has produced and is still producing a large amount of oil.

A motion is made to dismiss. As pertinent to the motion, the answer of the Producers Oil Company must be considered. It alleges that Wadkins actually settled upon the land on or before December 12, 1893, under the homestead laws of the United States, the land then being public land of the United States, and subject to settlement and entry under those laws, and did not marry the mother of plaintiff until several months later; that the patent was issued as early as December 12, 1898, thereby fixing and determining the date of settlement as being at least five years prior thereto; that defendant is the lessee of its codefendant, who claims to own and does own the land in fee simple by regular conveyance from Wadkins, and that defendant, therefore, claims a right, title, privilege, and immunity under the statutes of the United States, and particularly under the acts of Congress governing homestead entries on the public lands of the United States, and that, under those statutes, plaintiff has no right, title, or interest in the lands.

The answer of the Atlanta & Shreveport Oil & Gas Company alleges substantially the same facts, and that 'all allegations of its codefendant as to Federal questions are adopted and made part' of defendant's answer.

It will appear in our discussion of the case that the Federal right thus invoked was passed on by the supreme court of the state, and was an element in its decision against plaintiff. The motion to dismiss is therefore overruled.

Under the laws of the United States every person who is the head of a family, and having certain other qualifications not necessary to mention, shall be entitled to enter a quarter section or less of the public lands.

By §§ 2291 and 2292 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, pp. 1390, 1394) it is provided as follows:

'Sec. 2291. No certificate, however, shall be given, or patent issued therefor, until the expiration of five years from the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time within two years thereafter, the person making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or, in case of her death, his heirs or devisee; or, in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death, proves by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the affidavit, and makes affidavit that no part of such land has been alienated, except as provided in section twenty-two hundred and eighty-eight, and that he, she, or they will bear true allegiance to the government of the United States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time citizens of the United States, shall be entitled to a patent as in other cases provided by law. . . .

'Sec. 2292. In case of the death of both father and mother leaving an infant child or children under twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall inure to the benefit of such infant child or children. . . .'

In McCune v. Essig, 199 U. S. 382, 50 L. ed. 237, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 78, we decided that the beneficiaries of the statute were (1) the entryman, (2) his widown, she performing and proving he performance of the conditions, to wit, residence and cultivation of the land for the time prescribed; and (3)—§ 2292—a child or children under twenty-one years of age. And the rights are independent; or, in other words and in illustration, as we said in McCune v. Essig, the homestead claimant 'may reside upon and cultivate the land, and by doing so is entitled to a patent. I...