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[246 U.S. 110, 111] Messrs. Frank Hagerman, of Kansas City, Mo., and J. W. Zevely and Richard W. Stoutz, both of Muskogee, Okl., for appellant.
[246 U.S. 110, 113] Messrs. George S. Ramsey and Edgar A. De Meules, both of Muskogee, Okl., and Malcolm E. Rosser, of Tulsa, Okl., for appellees.
Mr. Justice DAY delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is a contest between holders of oil and gas leases made by one Eastman Richard, a full-blood Creek Indian, the owner by patent of the west half of the northeast quarter of section 5 of township 17 N., range 7 E., in Creek County, Oklahoma. Richard made a lease of the west one-half of the quarter to David Gunsburg and the Southwestern Petroleum Company on March 20, 1912. This lease was not filed for record with the Indian Agency until April 5, 1912, nor was it recorded with the Register of Deeds for Creek County, Oklahoma. On March 28, 1912, Richards made a like lease for the same premises to the appellant, William J. Anicker, which was filed with the Indian Agency on March 30, 1912, and on April 1, 1912, was filed for record with the Register of [246 U.S. 110, 114] Deeds for Creek County, Oklahoma. It thus appears that the lease to Gunsburg and the Southwestern Petroleum Company was earlier than the one to Anicker but the latter was first recorded. Upon hearing upon these conflicting leases the United States Indian Superintendent recommended the approval of the Gunsburg and Southwestern Petroleum Company lease.
After referring to the dates of the leases and the time of filing the same for record, the superintendent said:
After upholding the right of the Secretary of the Interior to make rules and regulations the superintendent further said:
...
The superintendent concluded that the lease in favor of Anicker should be disapproved, and the lease to Gunsburg and Southwestern Petroleum Company should be approved.
Upon hearing before the First Assistant Secretary of the Interior that officer reached a like conclusion. A motion to reconsider was denied, the Secretary concluding:
The plaintiff's bill was filed upon the theory that the lease to Gunsburg and Southwestern Petroleum Company had been approved by the Secretary by mistake of law, and that, but for the mistake, the lease of plaintiff in error would have been approved, and the bill sought to charge the defendants in error as trustees for the complainant, and to require an assignment of the lease to him. The District Court held against complainant, and that decree was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, 226 Fed. 176, 141 C. C. A. 174.
In order to maintain a suit of this sort the complainant must establish not only that the action of the Secretary [246 U.S. 110, 118] was wrong in approving the other lease, but that the complainant was himself entitled to an approval of his lease, and that it was refused to him because of an erroneous ruling of law by the Secretary. Bohall v. Dilla, 114 U.S. 47 , 5 Sup. Ct. 782.
The statutes of the United States provide:
Section 20 of the Act of April 26, 1906, 34 Stat. 145, c. 1876:
Section 2 of the Act of May 27, 1908, 35 Stat. 312, c. 199:
The Act of March 1, 1907, 34 Stat. at Large, 1026, c. 2285:
Under the authority to make rules the Secretary of the Interior provided:
Whatever may be the effect of this rule providing for [246 U.S. 110, 119] the filin of leases within thirty days from and after their execution, in view of the requirements of the statutes, the lease can have no validity without the Secretary's approval. The protection of the Indian's rights is left to the Indian Bureau of which the Secretary is the head, and the courts may only interfere to protect the rights of others when they are invaded by clearly unauthorized action.
Much stress is placed in argument upon the provisions of section 20 of the Act of April 26, 1906, requiring leases entered into for a period of more than one year to be recorded in conformity with the law requiring the recording of conveyances in force in the Territory; and upon the Act of March 1, 1907, providing that the filing of the lease in the office of the Indian Agency shall be deemed constructive notice. An elaborate argument is based on these requirements, and the statutes of Arkansas in force in the Territory are set out in the brief, which, it is contended, show the necessity of recording such instruments in order to give constructive notice to persons dealing with the title. But these requirements do not relieve the appellant of the primary difficulty of maintaining this suit; the lack of a showing that his lease would have been approved but for a mistake of law which resulted in the approval of the lease to another.
The statute is plain in its provisions-that no lease, of the character here in question, can be valid without the approval of the Secretary. Such approval rests in the exercise of his discretion; unquestionably this authority was given to him for the protection of Indians against their own improvidence and the designs of those who would obtain their property for inadequate compensation. It is also true that the law does not vest arbitrary authority in the Secretary of the Interior. But it does give him power to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the lease presented for his action, and to grant or withhold approval as his judgment may dictate. [246 U.S. 110, 120] There is nothing in this record to show that approval of the appellant's lease has been given by the Secretary as required by the statute. On the contrary, it appears that the Secretary approved another lease of the same land, and has withheld his approval of the one under which the appellant claims. The Secretary declares in substance in the finding which we have quoted, being his final action in the case, that the prior recording of one lease does not abridge his authority to find that another lease, regularly executed and filed, is more to the allottee's interest and better entitled to approval. It does not appear that had he disapproved the Gunsburg lease, he would have approved the one to appellant, and until this affirmatively appears, he has no standing which permits a court by its decree to award the leasehold to him.
We find nothing in this record to indicate that the Secretary of the Interior has exceeded the authority which the law vests in him. The fact that he has given reasons in the discussion of the case, which might not in all respects meet with approval, does not deprive him of authority to exercise the discretionary power with which by statute he is invested. United States ex rel. West v. Hitchcock, 205 U.S. 80, 85 , 86 S., 27 Sup. Ct. 423.
It follows that the decree of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals must be
Affirmed.
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Citation: 246 U.S. 110
Docket No: No. 164
Argued: January 28, 1918
Decided: March 04, 1918
Court: United States Supreme Court
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