Curry v. Marshall
Curry v. Marshall
Opinion of the Court
On July 27, 1901, the land in controversy was duly classified as grazing land, and ap praised at $2 per acre by the Commissionej of the General Land Office, and thereafter., on July 1, 1909, the same was by him reappraised at $3, which reappraisement was duly entered by the county clerk of Midland county. The land, being public free school land, was regularly sold and awarded to Louis A. Smith on February 23, 1910, by the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the sum of $6.22 per acre. A. F,Curry by conveyance became the owner oí the same, subject to the payment of the unpaid purchase money due the state, and up on the record of the General Land Office he was regularly substituted as the purchaser thereof. He continued to own same until the forfeiture of his purchase as hereinafter stated. The interest installment upon the purchase money due the state by Curry falling due November 1, 1912, not being paid, the Commissioner of the General Land Office on July 12, 1913, forfeited the sale to Curry for his failure to pay such interest, and forthwith gave notice thereof to the county clerk of Midland county. Within 30
Upon the facts found, the court rendered judgment in favor of Marshall. Curry makes two contentions in the case, the first being stated in his brief as follows:
“First. That the land was not upon the market subject to sale until the expiration of 99 days from the date, to wit, August 20, 1914, that the clerk received the notice from the Land Commissioner replacing said land upon the market to open bidders, and therefore appellant’s application, filed on November 30, 1914, should have been accepted.”
And in support of this contention he submits the following proposition:
“Where, under the Preference Right Act of 1913, state school lands are forfeited for failure to pay interest, and the owner thereof at the date of the forfeiture fails to exercise his right to repurchase within ninety days after notice of classification and appraisement of his land, the Land Commissioner is required to place said land upon the open market by notifying the county clerk of that fact, and fixing a date not .less than 90 days thereafter on and after which applications to purchase may be filed.”
Appellant’s second contention is that:
“At the expiration of 90 days from the date he was notified of the revaluation placed upon said land by the said land board, he having failed to exercise his preference right to repurchase within said time, the land came upon the open market, and therefore appellant’s application first filed in the Land Office should have been accepted.”
It is thus noted that the substance of appellant’s contention is:
First. That the land was not upon the market subject to sale until 90 days after the county clerk received on August 20, 1914, the classification and appraisement of the land made by the Land Commissioner on August 18, 1914; therefore the application of Marshall filed August 31, 1914, was premature, and conferred no title, and appellant’s application filed on November 30, 1914, after the expiration of such 90-day period, should have been accepted by the Commissioner and the land awarded to him.
Second. If the land was upon the market subject to sale prior to the expiration of said 90-day period, then it was so upon the market on August 19, 1914, when Curry’s first application was filed, and the same should have been awarded to him thereon, he being the first applicant.
Article 5423, Revised Statutes (referring-to unpaid purchase-money obligations covering school land purchases), provides that, upon default in payment of any interest installment upon any obligation then unpaid, the Commissioner of the General Land Office should indorse on such obligation “Land forfeited,” and cause an entry to that effect to be made on the account kept with the purchaser, and thereupon the land would be forfeited to the state, and should be resold under the provisions of that chapter or any future law. By virtue of this article section 46 became subject to resale to any qualified purchaser, but its status in this respect was subject to the contingency that it would be withdrawn from sale if Curry, within 30 days after receipt by the county clerk of the notification of such forfeiture, should notify the Land Commissioner of his wish to repurchase the land. Act April 18, 1903 (chapter 160, General Laws 33d Legislature, p. 336),
Having failed to consummate a repurchase within the time limited, Curry’s right lapsed on December 20, 1913, and the land again became subject to sale to any qualified purchaser, and under the fourth section of the act mentioned, it then became the duty of the Land Commissioner to place the land on the market for sale as is provided by law for the sale of leased land. The manner of placing leased land upon the market is governed in part by article 5408, Revised Statutes, which has reference to the publicity to be given by the Commissioner of leased land which is to be sold. It requires the Commissioner to give notice to the county clerk of the expiration date of leases, which notice is to be given 90 days before the date of expiration. When a lease is canceled for any cause, the land is not subject to sale for 90 days thereafter, and the Commissioner is required to give notice to the county clerk of such cancellation, and to fix a date not less than 90 days thereafter on and after which applications to purchase may be filed. All notices of expirations and cancellations are required to be recorded. The Commissioner is required to adopt such means as may be at his command that will give the widest publicity as to when land will be on the market for sale by reason of a lease expiration; such publicity, when practicable, to be given 90 days in advance of the expiration. Upon the cancellation of a lease the same publicity to the fact was to be given as with reference to publicity of expirations.
It is to be noted in the case of a canceled lease that the Land Commissioner by this article is given the authority to defer until a future day the date upon which the land would come upon the market so as to afford him an opportunity to give due publicity of the fact that the land is subject to resale. In the case of a lease expiration no such authority is given, and the land is upon the market at the date of expiration, but due publicity of this fact is obtained by the requirement that the Commissioner shall give the county clerk previous notice of the expiration date, and|adjopt suidh means as may be at his command so as to .give the widest publicity as to when the land will be ton the market by reason of the lease expiration, which previous notice to the clerk and publicity is to be given 90 days, when practicable, in advance of such expiration.
It is manifest that the provisions of article 5403 relating to the publicity features to be given in the case of lease expirations can have no application. If it be held that Curry’s land was upon the open market, subject to sale at the expiration of his 90-day preference right period, it would be impossible to give any publicity whatever to such fact, and prospective purchasers could have no advance notice that the land would come upon the open market. The Land Commissioner could not foresee, and would not be authorized to assume, that the land would not be repurchased by Curry. He therefore could not give advance notice to the clerk and adopt other means of publicity if the land be regarded as coming upon the open market and subject to sale to the first qualified purchaser, after the expiration of Curry’s 90-day period on December 20, 1913. We think it manifest that the provisions of article 5408 relating to lease expirations can have no application. On the contrary, to give practical effect to the publicity features required by the article, it must be held that the Commissioner was authorized and required to proceed in the manner provided in lease forfeitures. He was therefore authorized to defer until a future day the date upon which the land was to come upon the market and be resold. We think this date must be fixed not less than 90 days after December 20, 1913 ; that the expiration date of Curry’s preference right period should be considered as corresponding to the cancellation date of a canceled lease. In both instances this is the date upon which the land is freed from outstanding claims, and, in an inchoate sense, becomes subject to sale.
Passing now to the publicity required to be given by the Commissioner in case of canceled leases, it is observed that article 5408 requires that:
(1) “When a lease is for any cause canceled, he shall notify the county clerk of that fact and fix a date not less than 90 days thereafter on*895 and after which applications to purchase may be filed.”
[2] “Immediately after the cancellation of a lease or leases the Commissioner shall proceed to give publicity to the fact, the same as is herein required with reference to publicity of expiring leases.”
As to the second requirement, it is obvious that due publicity was given by the publication of May 19, 1914. While this was some time subsequent to the expiration of Curry’s preference right period, it must be assumed that it was the earliest it was practicable to make the publication; and, in any event, such delay in making the publication would not affect the validity of the award to Marshall.
Affirmed.
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Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.