United States v. Bowling

Background

The United States sued to recover a tract of land in Oklahoma that had been allotted and patented in fee to Pe-te-lon-o-zah (William Wea) with a 25-year restriction on sale. Wea died in 1894. After his death, persons claiming to be his heirs conveyed the land, and a prior decree canceled one such conveyance as violating the restriction. This suit was filed in 1915 during the restriction period on behalf of people the Government said were Wea’s heirs. At trial the Government offered a Secretary of the Interior decision from October 21, 1914, finding those people to be Wea’s sole heirs, but the trial court excluded that decision and the defendants prevailed.

Reasoning

The core question was whether the 1910 law giving the Secretary power to determine heirs applied only to trust patents or also to patents issued in fee that carried a restriction on sale. The Court examined the 1910 statute and a series of later appropriation acts and Indian Bureau reports showing the Department had long treated the law as applying to both trust and restricted allotments. Congress repeatedly funded determinations of heirs for both types and left out certain tribes whose allotments were restricted, which the Court saw as evidence that Congress intended the Secretary’s power to cover restricted allotments too. Because the Secretary’s determinations had been treated as final and conclusive by Congress and the Department, the trial court wrongly excluded the Secretary’s finding.

Real world impact

The ruling allows the Interior Secretary’s heir determinations under the 1910 law to be introduced and treated as final in disputes over restricted allotments. That practice has affected many cases and large values (reports showed hundreds of determinations, with 566 in one year). The case is sent back for a new trial where the Secretary’s decision can be considered as evidence.