HAMMOND v. STATE ex rel. COM'RS of LAND OFFICE.

HAMMOND v. STATE ex rel. COM'RS of LAND OFFICE.
1931 OK 497
2 P.2d 954
151 Okla. 127
Case Number: 20367
Decided: 09/08/1931
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

HAMMOND
v.
STATE ex rel. COM'RS of LAND OFFICE.

Syllabus

¶0 1. Taxation--Rights Acquired by Tax Sale Purchaser of School Land Sold on Deferred Payments.
The purchaser, at a tax sale, of state school land sold by the Commissioners of the Land Office on deferred payments evidenced by note and certificate of sale is not entitled to the issuance of a tax deed to the land. His right is to be substituted in the place of the holder and owner of the certificate of sale as the assignee thereof.
2. Same--Statute Prohibiting Execution of Tax Deed on School Land not Invalid.
Section 9321, C. O. S. 1921, is not unconstitutional, neither was it repealed by chapter 130, Session Laws 1919.

Appeal from District Court, Comanche County; E. L. Richardson, Judge.

Action by F. W. Hammond against the State ex rel. Commissioners of the Land Office. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

P. G. Fullerton, for plaintiff in error.
Geo E. Merritt, for defendant in error.

HEFNER, J.

¶1 This is an action by F. W. Hammond against the Commissioners of the Land Office of the State of Oklahoma, to quiet title to certain lots located in the city of Lawton. The lots were originally a portion of a tract of land granted to the state under the Enabling Act for school purposes. They were sold to various persons by the Commissioners of the Land Office and certificates of purchase were issued them which provided for deferred payments as authorized by section 9342, C. O. S. 1921. The purchasers failed to make the deferred payments, and also failed to pay the taxes. The lots were sold to the county at a delinquent tax sale.

¶2 Plaintiff thereafter purchased them from the county at resale and a resale tax deed was issued to him. The trial court held the tax deed void and rendered judgment in favor of defendant.

¶3 The execution of the tax deed was prohibited by section 9321, C. O. S. 1921. In the case of Clark v. Board of Comm'rs of Cimarron County, 143 Okla. 18, 285 P. 127, this court announced the following rule:

"The purchaser, at a tax sale, of state school land sold by the Commissioners of the Land Office on deferred payments evidenced by note and certificates of sale, is not entitled to the issuance of a tax deed to the land, and the issuance of a tax deed therefor is prohibited. His right is to be substituted in the place of the holder and owner of the certificate of sale as the assignee thereof."

See, also, Hammond v. State ex rel. Com'rs of Land Office, 151 Okla. 87, 300 P. 396.

¶4 Plaintiff contends that section 9321, C. O. S. 1921, was repealed by chapter 130, Session Laws 1919, and further contends that it is unconstitutional. Both of these contentions were decided against him in the case of Fullerton v. State ex rel. Com'rs of Land Office, 140 Okla. 122, 282 P. 674.