Greer County v. Texas
Headline: Court affirms Texas can recover school lands granted to a now-void county, rejecting an Oklahoma county’s claim and leaving title and cancelled patents with Texas.
Holding: The Court held that Texas, not the county created under United States law, holds legal title to the disputed school lands, so the out-of-state county’s claim fails and Texas may recover the property.
- Allows Texas to recover and cancel patents on the disputed school lands.
- Prevents a county created by the United States from inheriting Texas land grants without Texas consent.
- Affirms that land title rules are governed by the law where the land lies (Texas).
Summary
Background
The State of Texas sued to recover land in Hockley and Cochran Counties that had been granted for school purposes and patented on July 18, 1887, to Greer County, Texas under an 1883 law giving land to counties for schools. Greer County had been created in 1860 and organized in 1886. In March 1896 this Court held the territory belonged to the United States, and Congress then organized a Greer County, Oklahoma on May 4, 1896. Texas passed a law on April 13, 1897 directing recovery of the land, and the State brought this suit; lower courts reached differing results before this appeal.
Reasoning
The core question was whether the county created under United States authority could claim the land Texas had purported to grant. The Court explained that the earlier decision showed Texas never had title to the Greer lands, so the United States was free to deal with them, but a corporation created by another sovereignty could not, without Texas’s consent, succeed to title in Texas. Succession to land is governed by the law where the land lies, and these lands are in Texas. When the de facto Texas county disappeared, Texas held whatever legal title remained. For these reasons the Court found the claimant to be a stranger to the original gift and rejected its claim.
Real world impact
The decision leaves legal title to the disputed school lands with Texas, allows Texas to recover and cancel the prior patents, and rejects the idea that the title should be treated as a trust in favor of the newly created Oklahoma county. The Court declined to decide other complex questions raised below.
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