Porter v. Wilson, 239 U.S. 170 (1915)

Porter v. Wilson

No. 58

Submitted November 5, 1915
Decided November 29, 1915
239 U.S. 170

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

Syllabus

This Court accepts the decision of the highest court of the state that the state constitution was not violated by any action of the trial court.

In this case, held that a decision by the trial court of Oklahoma, based on demurrer to the evidence of the plaintiff and, after weighing that testimony for the purpose of determining the rights of the respective parties, did not abridge immunities and privileges of the plaintiff as a citizen of the United States nor deprive the plaintiff of property without due process of law in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment by disregarding the provisions of § 5039, Rev.Laws Oklahoma, making the provisions of the statute respecting trials by jury applicable to trials by the court.

Section 5 of the Act of February 28, 1891, 26 Stat. 794, c. 383, amending the general allotment act of February 8, 1887, 24 Stat. 388, c. 179, had no effect upon the right of inheritance as to Creek Indians in Indian Territory inasmuch as, by § 8 of the Act of 1887, Creek territory was expressly excepted from the operations of that statute.

The provision in § 38 of the Oklahoma Act of May 2, 1890, 26 Stat. 81, legalizing Indian marriages, relate only to marriages theretofore contracted and not to those thereafter contracted.

39 Okl. 500 affirmed.

The facts, which involve the inheritance of an allotment to a Creek Indian, are stated in the opinion.