Supreme Court of the United States, 1928

McCoy v. Shaw

Supreme Court of the United States · Decided May 21, 1928 · Sanford

277 U.S. 302; 48 S. Ct. 519; 72 L. Ed. 891; 1928 U.S. LEXIS 883 (United States Reports)

Counsel

Messrs. Bobert M. Bainey, Streeter B. Flynn, Calvin Jones and J\\ay W. Whitney were on the brief for petitioner., Messrs. Edwin Dabney, Attorney General of Oklahoma, and V. P. Crovie, Assistant Attorney General, were on the brief for respondents.

Cases that cite this one

28 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

State v. Lafferty (Me. 1973)
Holloway v. Woodard (District Court, W.D. North Carolina 1987)
Cahoon v. Alton Packaging Corp. (Ill. App. Ct. 1986)
State v. Carpenter (Kan. 1965)
State v. Aeby (Kan. 1963)
Central Pac. Ry. Co. v. Nevada Tax Commission (District Court, D. Nevada 1933)
Royal Baking Powder Co. v. Federal Trade Commission (D.C. Cir. 1929)
South Dakota v. Neville (Supreme Court of the United States 1983)
Garland v. City of West Palm Beach (Supreme Court of the United States 1940)
Florida ex rel. Yoeman v. City of Sarasota (Supreme Court of the United States 1940)
Luckenbach Terminals, Inc. v. Township of North Bergen (Supreme Court of the United States 1940)
Hammond v. Burbank (Supreme Court of the United States 1937)
Grubb v. Lawman (Supreme Court of the United States 1937)
Elkins v. Land Title Bank & Trust Co. (Supreme Court of the United States 1937)
Aetna Insurance v. Illinois Central R. Co. (Supreme Court of the United States 1937)
Winston Bros. v. Stover (Supreme Court of the United States 1936)
Northrop v. Beale (Supreme Court of the United States 1936)
Fox Film Corp. v. Muller (Supreme Court of the United States 1935)
Allison v. Texas (Supreme Court of the United States 1935)
Capital Endowment Co. v. Ohio ex rel. Bowen (Supreme Court of the United States 1935)
Utley v. St. Petersburg (Supreme Court of the United States 1934)
Ohio ex rel. Eastman v. Stuart (Supreme Court of the United States 1934)
134 William Street Co. v. Lynch (Supreme Court of the United States 1934)
Potter v. Maybury (Supreme Court of the United States 1932)
Ellison Ranching Co. v. Bartlett (Supreme Court of the United States 1932)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

Mr. Justice Sanford

delivered the opinion of the Court.

McCoy, the petitioner, a Chickasaw Indian of one-fourth blood, brought this suit in equity in a state court *303 of Oklahoma to enjoin the collection of a gross production tax oh his one-eighth royalty interest in’ the oil produced under a lease of lands patented to him as his homestead and surplus allotments from which all restrictions on alienation and incumbrance had been removed — claiming that this tax on his royalty share in the oil was in violation of the treaties between the United States and the Chickasaw. Indians and the Acts of Congress relating thereto. The court dismissed the suit on motion, for want of equity; and this was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, without consideration of the federal question, on the ground that under §§ 9971 and 9973 of the Compiled Oklahoma Statutes, 1921, the petitioner had a plain, adequate and exclusive remedy at law by paying the tax under protest and suing for its recovery. 124 Okla. 256.

It is settled law that a judgment of a state court which is.put upon a non-federal ground, independent of the federal question involved and broad enough to sustain the judgment, cannot be reviewed by this Court, unless the non-federal ground is so plainly unfounded that it may be regarded as essentially arbitrary or a mere device to prevent the review of a decision upon the federal question. Leathe v. Thomas, 207 U. S. 93, 99; Vandalia Railroad v. South Bend, 207 U. S. 359, 367; Enterprise Irrig. Dist. v. Canal Co., 243 U. S. 157, 164;. Ward v. Love County, 253 U. S. 17, 22; and cases therein cited.

Here thenon-federalground upon which the Oklahoma court based its decision — namely, that under the Oklahoma statutes the petitioner had a plain, adequate and exclusive remedy at law — was based on its earlier decision in Black v. Geissler, 58 Okla. 335. It is in harmony with the -decisions of this Court relating to similar statutes of other States. Tennessee v. Sneed, 96 U. S. 69, 75; Shelton v. Platt, 139 U. S. 591, 595; Indiana Mfg. *304 Co. v. Koehne, 188 U. S. 681, 686; Raymond v. Chicago Traction Co., 207 U. S. 20, 39; Singer Sewing Mach. Co. v. Benedict, 229 U. S. 481, 487; Union Pac. R. R. Co. v. Weld County, 247 U. S. 282, 285. And no intent to evade the federal question is indicated.

We are without authority to determine the federal right claimed by the petitioner. And the writ of certiorari is

Dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.