1 Indian Terr. 191 | Ct. App. Ind. Terr. | 1897
-(after stating the facts.) The insel for appellants, in their brief and argument, contend it their answer as defehdants below denied some material ¡utters alleged, and necessary to entitle the plaintiff to re-rev, and set up some defensive matters, and the demurrer, Ing general to the whole answer, should not have been ptained, and further submit the following question: f'Qan
The only contention in this case which requires con-1 sideration on our part is that which alleges the invalidity oil the contract of rental, and the inability of the plaintiff! (appellee) to make a lease of the kind in question, or, hav-l ing made one, to enforce its observance. It is conceded byl the pleadings that the plaintiff below, the Grady Trading!
The contention of the appellants that the contract was in violation of the law of the Choctaw Nation is untenable. Neither plaintiff nor defendants were citizens of the Choctaw Nation, and no law of that Nation will apply to them, or control the property which they might hold. The custom which prevails in the Nations of the Five Civilized Tribes of permitting citizens of the United States to own improve-] ments on town lots for the purposes of residence and trade, is too well established to be questioned; and when citizens o: the United States become possessed peaceably of lots in th towns in the Indian Nations of the Five Civilized Tribes, an; erect improvements thereon, they have as much right t lease and pispóse of such improvements as the citizens of th Naitons would have. A contract of rental, by a citizen o: the United States, of lands or lots in the Indian Territory! is valid, to all intents and purposes,- where all the requisite; of a valid contract are complied with; and a person wb enters into a contract to lease such improvements cannol question his landlord’s title, and is subject to the statute id force in the Indian Territory for the purpose of obtainim possession of such premises by an action of unlawful d; tainer, the same as if the property was located in any of th| states of the Union, under a similar law.
The contention of the counsel for appellants that noj withstanding they had made a contract in apparent goc faith for the leasing of the premises in question, and undtj that contract had obtained peaceable possession of the ir provement, they might then dispute the landlord’s title, ail refuse to return the property to him, is wholly untenable Such a contention would reverse and set aside all the wa known and established principles of law. It would pren| persons to take advantage of their own wrongs, and to