This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, sustaining the general demurrers of the defendants to the petition of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, Myrtle A. Bonebrake and others are the heirs of Henry F. Meloy. The petition alleges that on October 29, 1914, Henry F. Meloy and his wife, Amanda P. Meloy, were the owners in fee simple of 1 acre in the form of a square (12⅜ rods x 12¾ rods) in the NW corner of the NWJ4 of Section 9, Townshiр 11 North, Range 2 West, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, and on that day Meloy and his wife, Amanda P. Meloy, deeded the 1 acre tract to Union Ladies Aid Society of Sooner, a religious and educational corporаtion.
The habendum clause in the deed of October 29, 1914, is:
“To have and to hold said described premises unto the said party of the second part for a site to erect a building that the same may be used for religious and educational purposes and in the event that the here-in-before described property shall at any time cease to be used for religious and educational purposes for a period of one year and one, day,.or in the event that the party of the second part or their successors should permit said property to be used for other than religious and educational purposes then and in that event such estate as is hereby vested in such party of the second part shall at once terminate and the title revert to the parties of the first part their heirs of assigns, said building never to be dedicated to any sectarian denomination while under the control of said Society.”
The petition further alleges that in 1937, at a time Henry F. Meloy was deceased, each of the heirs of Henry F. Meloy gave a quitclaim deed to Ozro P. Meloy, the son of Henry F. Mеloy, covering NWj4 of Section 9; that these deeds were given for the sole purpose of clearing the title to the NW¡4 of Section 9 so that a sale might be affectuated and were not given for the purpоse of relinquishing any rights in the 1 acre tract and Ozro P. Meloy did not intend to obtain any rights.
The petition also alleged that on August. IS, 1947, Ozro P. Meloy and his wife, Edith Meloy, executed a quitclaim deed to Union Ladies Aid Society of Soоner, a corporation, covering the 1 acre tract and on the 3rd day of March, 1969, the Union Ladies Aid Society of Sooner conveyed by warranty deed to Tom McNeill and Ruth Ann McNeill, husband and wife, and Eugene Viсkrey and Loretha Vickrey, husband and wife, as joint tenants; that because of this last sale, the property has been permitted to be used for other than religious and educational 'purposes, thus effecting a breach of the alleged condition subsequent appearing as the habendum clause in the deed of October 29, 1914, from Henry F. Meloy and wife, Amanda P. Meloy, to Union Ladies Aid Society of Sooner. The plaintiffs аllege finally that this breach resulted in the 1 acre tract reverting to the heirs of Henry F. Meloy. There are other allegations in the petition constituting conclusions of law concerning the nature of the estаte granted by the execution of the deed of October 29, 1914. A copy of each deed described in the petition is attached thereto as an exhibit.
Plaintiffs pray for a judgment granting them immediate possession of the 1 acre tract, quieting title in plaintiffs, a reasonable attorney’s fee and other proper relief.
The defendants are the McNeills and Vickreys, the grantees in the deed of March 3, 1969, Tressa Pybas, Mrs. H. E. Wеlty and the Union Ladies Aid Society of Sooner, a corporation, hereinafter called
Plаintiffs, in their attack upon the judgment of the trial court, say first that in 1937 when each of the heirs of Henry F. Meloy executed a quitclaim deed to Ozro P. Meloy covering the NW.H of Section 9 (including the 1 acre tract), the heirs did not have in the 1 acre tract “an interest sufficiently in esse to be subject to conveyance.”
This argument is based upon the premise that the execution of the deed of October 29, 1914, from Henry F. Meloy and wife, tо Ladies Aid covering the 1 acre tract constituted the grant of a fee simple estate upon a condition subsequent and that all the grantors retained was a right of reentry upon a breach of the cоndition and that this right is not transferable except to the owner of the property affected thereby. Consequently plaintiffs assert that the quitclaim deed from the Meloy heirs to Ozro P. Meloy did not convey this right of reentry and Ozro had nothing to convey to Ladies Aid by his deed of August 15, 1947, covering the 1 acre tract. We held in Ross v. Sanderson,
We do not agree with plaintiffs that the deed of October 29, 1914, from Henry F. Meloy and wife to Ladies Aid was the cоnveyance of a fee simple upon a condition subsequent. We hold this deed was the conveyance of a determinable fee simple. A possibility of reverter remained in the Meloy heirs. The language in the deed’s habendum clause not only does not imply but clearly negates either an express or implied right of reentry to be( exercised either by self-help or by aid of the judicial process. The contrоlling language in the habendum clause is: “ * * * in the event the hereinbefore described property shall at any time cease to be used for religious and educational purposes for a period of one year and one, day, or in the event that the party of the second part or their successors should permit said property to ’ be used for other than religious and educational purposes then and in thаt event such estate as is hereby vested in such party of the second part shall
at once terminate
(emphasis supplied) and the title revert to the parties of the first part their heirs or assigns, * * * ” By providing for reversion to “party of the first part their heirs and assigns,” the parties to the deed were saying that the grantor reserved a transferable interest. We said in Frensley et al. v. White et al.,
“There is, first, the determinable fee upon conditional limitatiоn, which is a fee simple except that it is immediately terminated by the happening of some possible event, subsequently. The estate remaining in the grantor after the conveyance of such an estate is a possibility of reverter which he may convey, it being considered an interest in the land.” See also London v. Kingsley,
The validity of the trial court’s judgment has additional support. Kassner v. Alexander Drug Co.,
The provisions of 16 O.S.1961, § 18, also warrants the trial court’s judgmеnt in sustaining the general demurrers to the petition of plaintiffs. This section, enacted in 1897, provides: “A quitclaim deed, made in substantial compliance with the provisions of this chapter, shall convey all the right, title and intеrest of the maker thereof in and to the premises therein described.” The relevant quitclaim deeds of 1937 from the Meloy heirs are in substantial compliance with the form delineated in 16 O.S.1961, § 41. They are unambiguous and contain no reservation. We have never had occasion to determine the direct question that a quitclaim deed conveys the grantor’s possibility of reverter or right of reentry or remainder interest in the land covered thereby but we have held that such a deed conveys the grantor’s interest in a special tax bill, pertaining to the land covered by the deed. Anchor Stone and Material Co. v. Pollok, Okl.,
The question as to whether parol evidence was admissible to show that grantors did not intend to convey a rever-sionary interest was decided adversely to plaintiff’s contention in Jennings v. Amerada Petroleum Corporation,
Judgment affirmed.
