104 S.W. 853 | Ct. App. Ind. Terr. | 1907
This is .an action in equity, brought by the appellee, Chester A. Linebach, as guardian of his ward, William Hood, to enjoin the appellants from removing the crops from the allotted land of the ward. Linebach was appointed guardian on the 22d day of October, 1906. Prior to that time, to wit, on the 24th day of September, 1902, the father of the minor, Sterling P. Wood, leased to the defendant the allotted lands of his son for the term of four years, commencing January 15, 1904. William Hood was at the time of the execution of the lease under 14 years of age. The lease executed by the father had not been done by the direction of the court, nor had he, as the natural guardian of his ward, subjected himself to its jurisdiction, or executed a bond as required by law in a case.where the child is the owner of land by a “new acquisition,” as is the case here. Home time after the execution of the lease, the defendant took possession of the land, and sublet it to his codefendant, S. S. Cox. After the appointment of Linebach, the plaintiff, as guardian, he repudiated this lease, and brought an action before the United States Indian agent at Muskogee to be put in possession of the allotment, as provided by law, and pending the hearing of the case before the agent brought this action in equity to enjoin the removal from the premises of the crops of 1906, until the action before the agent could be heard. The object of the suit was to hold thfe crops grown on the disputed premises until the agent should hear and determine the question before him; and no other relief, except general relief, was prayed. The judge at chambers heard the application, and granted a temporary injunction. Afterward a motion to dissolve the temporary injunction was filed, heard, and overruled. The defendant then filed an answer, setting up the lease, and a claim for improvements, and prayed that the bill be dismissed for ¡want of
The question of the merits of the case was not before the court further than to determine from the pleadings and the proof before it if there were a reasonable probability that the plaintiff- would prevail before the Indian agent, and, if so, were there rights connected with the case that the Indian agent, as a court of law, could not protect without the aid of a court of equity. If the court should find both of these conditions to exist, then the judgment would not be a perpetual injunction,’but, in accordance with the prayer of the complaint and the object of the suit, the defendant would be enjoined from removing the crops upon the premises until the plaintiff’s complaint before the United States Indian agent could be heard and determined. This was the prayer of the bill. The plaintiff did not desire a perpetual injunction. His object was to tie up the crops so that they would not be severed from the land until the agent should put the defendant off and put him in possession, and then hold the growing crops by virtue of his possession. He knew if he should ask for a perpetual injunction at that time that the court of necessity would have to pass upon the whole case, and, as the plaintiff had a complete remedy at law, he could not prevail. The order of the court is as
Again, the complaint, after setting out the facts of the case substantially as above stated, as the sole grounds for equitable relief, alleged the following: That the defendant Cox has raised and grown a crop thereon during the year 1906 which is now maturing and ready for harvest; that upon the appointment of plaintiff herein as guardian for the said allottee he notified the said defendants that he would expect the rental portion of the crops grown upon said premises to be turned over to him as guardian, but he is today advised that the defendants Ben Lafayette has gone to the premises above described with a force of men, and with wagons, and is proceeding to gather said crop and carry the same away from the premises in question; that, immediately upon being advised of what was taking place, the plaintiff herein, as guardian, filed- complaint
The complaint makes no allegation of the insolvency of defendant, nor does it set up any other ground entitling the plaintiff to equitable relief, except that, if the defendant be not restrained from carrying off the crops, when plaintiff should come into possession of the land, “it will be almost impossible to show what said crops amounted to,” and therefore what he would be entitled to recover in an action at law, and that his remedy would be rendered “less efficacious.” Inasmuch as the value of ihe crops grown on the place is not the . measure of damages in a suit for the recovery of land, but is either the rental or usable value of the land, we cannot see how the difficulty of being able to show the value of the crops would make a case in equity; nor can we understand how it is that, in order to make the proof of the rental or usable value of the land, the remedy in equity is more efficacious than at law. The court below, realizing that the measure of damages is as stated, dissolved the injunction as to Cox, the sublessee, and allowed him to take off his two-thirds and three-fourths, and simply tied up the property representing the rents due Lafayette as landlord. As between them, it is more than probable that the rental- contract was for one-third ancl one-fourth of the
The purpose of the bill simply being to hold intact the crops pending the proceeding before the Indian agent, and there being no allegation of insolvency alleged, or any other
For the errors above set out, the decree of the court below is reversed and remanded.