147 P. 276 | Mont. | 1915
delivered the opinion of the court.
Pursuant to the grant contained in the Enabling Act, the state of Montana became the owner of the west one-half of the northwest one-fourth of section 23, township 20 north, range 3 east, in Cascade county.- On September 20, 1912, this land was sold in one piece or parcel by the state board of land commissioners to Wm. Beebee for $18 per acre, and a certificate of purchasé issued to him. The land lies less than three miles from the city limits of the city of Great Falls. On October 28, 1914, this relator applied to the board to lease the same piece of land, but his application was rejected, for the reason that the land had been sold. This proceeding was thereupon commenced to compel the board to cancel the Beebee certificate and consider relator’s petition to lease. To the affidavit and alternative writ a motion to quash was interposed, and the matter is before us for determination.
Relator grounds his right to relief upon the contention that the sale to Beebee was absolutely void. By section 1 of Article XYII of the state Constitution, state lands are divided into four classes. Class 4 comprises “lands within the limits of any town or city or within three miles of such limits.” Section 2 of the same Article provides for the sale or lease of lands of the first or third class, for the sale of lands of the second class or the timber
1. While lands of the first and third class may be sold or leased, the board is commanded to sell lands of the fourth class, and nothing is said about leasing them. If, however, authority
2. Beebee is the holder of the legal title to the land. He is
The motion to quash is sustained, and the proceeding is dismissed.
Dismissed.