delivered the opinion of the Court.
The United States, as guardian and trustee for the Osage Indians, brought this suit against the county treasurer and taxing officers of Osage County, Oklahoma, and others, to restrain collection of unpaid taxes, to cancel certain tax sale certificates, and to recover sums paid as taxes on land in that county, which had been allotted to members of the Osage Tribe. The District Court dismissed the cause. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decree and remanded the cause with instructions to grant the relief prayed.
The question is whether the allotted lands were subject to taxation for 1909. Under the state laws, land was taxable as of March 1 of that year. In 1883, these lands were purchased from the Cherokee Nation by the United States for the benefit of the Osage and Kansas Indians. Chapter 3572, 34 Stat. 539, approved June 28, 1906, known as the Osage Allotment Act, provided for the division of lands belonging to the Osage Tribe among its
The allotments were completed and approved by the Secretary November 19, 1908. All allottees had died prior to that date. All of the lands taxed were allotted as surplus lands. Deeds were not signed by the principal chief until May and June, 1909; and they were not approved by the Secretary until July 30 of that year. None of the allottees received a certificate of competency.
Title was in the United States on the date as of which the assessment was made, and did not pass until the execution and delivery of the deeds. (§8.) The lands were not taxable while held in trust by the United States.
United States
v.
Rickert,
•The death of the allottees before completion of the allotment did not make the lands taxable as of March 1, 1909. The allotment was made about two and a half years after the approval of the act and after the death of all of the allottees. The three-year provision applies to surplus and not to homestead lands. This classification depends on selection and designation by the allottee, to be evidenced in the certificates of allotment and the deeds. It was impossible to ascertain as of March 1, 1909, what lands were surplus.
Appellants suggest that the title which passed at the time of the execution and delivery of the deed should be held to relate back and take effect at the time of the completion of the allotments. The doctrine of relation gives effect to an act done at one time as if it had been done at another. It is a legal fiction adopted by courts solely for purposes of justice, — to avoid denial or loss of right; but not to impose burdens. Its application depends on some antecedent right.
Gibson
v.
Chouteau,
Affirmed■