Work v. United States (262 U.S. 200)

by William Howard Taft

United States Supreme Court

262 U.S. 200

Work  v.  United States

 Argued: April 12, 1923. --- Decided: May 21, 1923

The relator, the McAlester-Edwards Coal Company, filed a petition in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, asking for a writ of mandamus to require the Secretary of the Interior and the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation and the Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation to accept $10,360.06, the balance of the purchase price of $12,651.82 ($2,291.76 having already been tendered and accepted) tendered by the coal company in payment for certain surface lands to which under the Act of Congress of February 8, 1918 (40 Stat. 433, c. 12, § 4), it claimed a preferential right of purchase, and to require the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation and the Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation to issue a patent to the coal company for the same and the Secretary of the Interior to approve it.

The answer of the defendants below admitted all the material facts alleged in the petition, but denied the right of the coal company to the mandamus on the ground that the construction put upon the act of 1918 by the Secretary of the Interior, in the exercise of the discretion vested in him by the statute, did not give to the relator, the coal company, the preferential right asserted. The Supreme Court of the District overruled a demurrer to the answer, and, the relator not pleading further, the petition was dismissed. On review in the Court of Appeals, the judgment of the District Supreme Court was reversed on the ground that the demurrer should have been sustained and the writ asked for should have issued. The cause was remanded to have the writ issue The coal company is owner by assignment of a lease approved by the Secretary of the Interior of coal lands in Pittsburg county, Oklahoma, belonging to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, executed in July, 1899, and running for 30 years. This lease permitted the lessee to use the surface of the land covered by the lease for the purpose of developing its coal mine. The Act of February 19, 1912, (37 Stat. 67, c. 46), authorized the Secretary of the Interior to sell the surface leased and unleased of the segregated mineral land of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, reserved under previous laws, to include the entire estate of the Indians therein except the coal and asphalt reserved. The Secretary was required in the first section, quoted in the margin, ^[1] to classify and have appraised the surface so to be sold. The second section, also quoted in the margin, ^[2] gave a perferential right for 60 days to any coal or asphalt lessee to purchase at the appraised value, the surface of the land covered by his mining lease, not exceeding 5 per cent. of the whole surface, which the Secretary might extend to 10 per cent., upon waiver of right by the lessee to use any more of the surface, but allowed the Secretary in case of a lessee's failing to purchase to reserve to him as much of the surface as the Secretary might deem proper for his mining used and development.

Pursuant to this act, the Secretary classified and appraised the surface of the land which included that covered by the lease of the coal company. The coa company, however, did not avail itself of the right to purchase but under the authority of the latter part of the section accepted a reservation by the Secretary of a certain part of the surface for its mining operations.

The purpose of the Act of February 8, 1918 (40 Stat. 433), already referred to, is shown by its title 'An act providing for the sale of the coal and asphalt deposits in the segregated mineral land in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations Oklahoma.' Before offering the coal and asphalt deposits for sale, the Secretary was to cause them to be appraised, under such regulations as he should prescribe. All deposits sold were to be subject to the rights of existing lessees, and section 4 contained a provision that any lessee of mining rights should have the preferential right to buy them at the highest price offered for them at public auction-at not less than the appraisement-and that after the appraisement of the mining rights and within 90 days thereof such lessee should have the preferential right to buy the surface rights reserved to him by the Secretary as such lessee 'at the appraised value.'

The relator bought the mining rights and then within due time undertook to exercise its preferential right to buy the surface rights reserved to it by the Secretary under the Act of 1912, and made a payment on account of $2,291.76, on the basis of the appraisement under the Act of 1912, which was accepted by the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and retained for fourteen months. When this became known to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, their representatives protested and insisted that there must be a new appraisement under the Act of 1918. There was a hearing before the Secretary who reversed his first ruling and held that the relator was entitled to purchase such surface lands only under an appraisement made subsequently to the Act of 1918, and that the money paid under the appraisement of 1912 should be returned to the relator. An appraisement was then ordered by the Secretary under regulations issued by him, at which the relator had sought to exercise a preferential right was fixed at $20,482.60, instead of $9,050.53, whic had been the appraisement under the Act of 1912.

The Attorney General and Mr. H. L. Underwood, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs in error.

Messrs. George M. Porter, of McAlester, Okl., and Conrad H. Syme, of Washington, D. C., for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice TAFT, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the Court.

Notes

1. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to sell at not less than the appraised price, to be fixed as hereinafter provided, the surface, leased and unleased, of the lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations in Oklahoma segregated and reserved by order of the Secretary of the Interior dated March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and three, authorized by the act approved July first, nineteen hundred and two. The surface herein referred to shall include the entire estate save the coal and asphalt reserved. Before offering such surface for sale the Secretary of the Interior, under such regulations as he may prescribe, shall cause the same to be classified and appraised by three appraisers, to be appointed by the President, at a compensation to be fixed him, not to exceed for salary and expenses for each appraiser the sum of fifteen dollars per day for the time actually engaged in making such classification and appraisement. The classification and appraisement of the surface shall be by tracts, according to the government survey of said lands, except that lands which are especially valuable by reason of proximity to towns or cities may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be subdivided into lots or tracts containing not less than one acre. In appraising said surface the value of any improvements thereon belonging to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, except such improvements as have been placed on coal or asphalt lands leased for mining purposes, shall be taken into consideration. The surface shall be classified as agricultural, grazing, or as suitable for town lots. The classification and appraisement provided for herein shall be completed within six months from the date of the passage of this act, shall be sworn to by the appraisers, and shall become effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, that in the proceedings and deliberation of said appraisers in the process of said appraisement and in the approval thereof the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations may present for consideration facts, figures, and arguments bearing upon the value of said property.
2. Sec. 2. That after such classification and appraisement has been made each holder of a coal or asphalt lease shall have a right for sixty days, after notice in writing, to purchase, at the appraised value and upon the terms and conditions hereinafter prescribed, a sufficient amount of the surface of the land covered by his lease to embrace improvements actually used in present mining operations or necessary for futu e operations up to five per centum of such surface, the number, location, and extent of the tracts to be thus purchased to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, that the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, enlarge the amount of land to be purchased by any such lessee to not more than ten per centum of such surface: Provided further, that such purchase shall be taken and held as a waiver by the purchaser of any and all rights to appropriate to his use any other part of the surface of such land, except for the purpose of future operations, prospecting, and for ingress and egress, as hereinafter reserved: Provided further, that if any lessee shall fail to apply to purchase under the provisions of this section within the time specified the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, with the consent of the lessee, designate and reserve from sale such tract or tracts as he may deem proper and necessary to embrace improvements actually used in present mining operations, or necessary for future operations, under any existing lease, and dispose of the remaining portion of the surface within such lease free and clear of any claim by the lessee, except for the purposes of future operations, prospecting, and for ingress and egress, as hereinafter reserved.