USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I > Part 44
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SEC. 26. That the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary, are hereby appro-
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priated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be disbursed under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in the same manner that similar appropriations are dis- bursed in the other Territories of the United States, namely :
To pay the expenses of the first legislative as- sembly of said Territory, including the printing of the session laws thereof, the sum of forty thousand dollars.
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To pay the salaries of the governor, the judges of the supreme court, the secretary of the Terri- tory, the marshal, the attorney, and other officers whose appointment is provided for in this act, for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, the sum of twenty thousand dollars.
To pay for the rent of buildings for the legis- lative and executive offices, and for the supreme and district courts; to provide jails, and support prisoners; to pay mileage and per diem of jurors and witnesses; to provide books, records, and sta- tionery for the executive and judicial offices for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June thir- tieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars.
To enable the governor to take a census of the inhabitants of said Territory, as required by law, the sum of five thousand dollars.
To be expended by the governor in temporary support and aid of common school education in said Territory, as soon as a system of public schools have been established by the legislative assembly, the sum of fifty thousand dollars.
Szo. 27. That the provisions of this act shall not be so construed as to invalidate or impair any legal claims or rights of persons occupying any portion of said Territory, under the laws of the United States, but such claims shall be adjudi- cated by the Land Department, or the courts, in accordance with their respective jurisdictions.
SEC. 28. That the Constitution and all the laws of the United States not locally inapplicable shall, except so far as modified by this act, have the same force and effect as elsewhere within the United States; and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are as to their effect in said Territory of Oklahoma hereby repealed: Provided, That section eighteen hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not apply to the Territory of Oklahoma.
SIc. 29. That all that part of the United States which is bounded on the north by the State of Kansas, on the east by the States of Ar- kansas and Missouri, and on the south by the State of Texas, and on the west and north by the Territory of Oklahoma as defined in the first section of this act, shall, for the purposes of this
act, be known as the Indian Territory; and the jurisdiction of the United States court estab- lished under and by virtue of an act entitled "An act to establish a United States court in the In- dian Territory, and for other purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby limited to and shall extend only over the Indian Territory as defined in this section; that the court established by said act shall, in addition to the jurisdiction conferred thereon by said act, have and exercise within the limits of the Indian Territory jurisdiction in all civil cases in the In- dian Territory, except cases over which the tribal courts have exclusive jurisdiction; and in all cases on contracts entered into by citizens of any tribe or nations with citizens of the United States in good faith and for valuable consideration, and in accordance with the laws of such tribe or nation, and such contracts shall be deemed valid and en- forced by such courts; and in all cases over which jurisdiction is conferred by this act or may here- after be conferred by act of Congress; and the provisions of this aet hereinafter set forth shall apply to said Indian Territory only.
SEC. 30. That for the purpose of holding terms of said court, said Indian Territory is hereby di- vided into three divisions, to be known as the first, second, and third division. The first division shall consist of the country occupied by the Indian tribes in the Quapaw Indian Agency and all that part of the Cherokee country east of the ninety- sixth meridian and all of the Creek country; and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Muskogee. The second division shall consist of the Choctaw country, and the place for holding said court therein shall be at South McAlester. The third division shall consist of the Chicka- saw and Seminole countries, and the place for holding said court therein shall be at Ardmore. That the Attorney-General of the United States may, if in his judgment it shall be necessary, appoint an assistant attorney for said court. And the clerk of said court shall appoint a deputy clerk in each of said divisions in which said clerk does not himself reside at the place in such division where the terms of said court are to be held. Such deputy clerk shall keep his office and reside at the place appointed for holding said court in the division of such residence, and shall keep the records of said court for such division, and in the absence of the clerk may exercise all the official powers of the clerk within the division for which he is appointed: Provided, That the ap- pointment of such deputies shall be approved by said United States court in the Indian Territory, and may be annulled by said court at its pleasure, and the clerk shall be responsible for the official acts and negligence of his respective deputies. The judge of said court shall hold at least two
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terms of said court each year in each of the di- visions aforesaid, at such regular times as said judge shall fix and determine, and shall be paid his actual traveling expenses and subsistence while attending and holding court at places other than Muskogee. And jurors for each term of said court, in each division, shall be selected and sum- moned in the manner provided in said act, three jury commissioners to be selected by said court for each division, who shall possess all the qualifi- cations and perform in said division all the duties required of the jury commissioners provided for in said act. All prosecutions for crimes or of- fenses hereafter committed in said Indian Terri- tory shall be cognizable within the division in which said crime or offense shall have been com- mitted. And all civil suits shall be brought in the division in which the defendant or defendants re- side or may be found; but if there be two or more defendants residing in different divisions, the ac- tion may be brought in any division in which either of the defendants resides or may be found. And all cases shall be tried in the division in which the process is returnable as herein provided, unless said judge shall direct such case to be removed to one of the other divisions: Provided, however, That the judicial tribunals of the Indian nations shall retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising in the country in which members of the nation by nativity or by adoption shall be the only parties; and as to all such cases the laws of the State of Arkansas extended over and put in force in said Indian Territory by this act shall not apply.
SEC. 31. That certain general laws of the State of Arkansas in force at the close of the session of the general assembly of that State of eighteen hundred and eighty-three, as published in eighteen hundred and eighty-four in the volume known as Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas, which are not locally inapplicable or in conflict with this act or with any law of Congress, relating to the subjects specially mentioned in this section, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory until Congress shall otherwise provide, that is to say, the provisions of the said general statutes of Arkansas relating to adminis- tration, chapter one, and the United States court in the Indian Territory herein referred to shall have and exercise the powers of courts of probate under said laws; to public administrators, chapter two, and the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall perform the duties imposed by said chapter on the sheriffs in said State; to arrest and bail, civil, chapter seven; to assignment for bene- fit of creditors, chapter eight; to attachments, chapter nine; to attorneys at law, chapter eleven; to bills of exchange and promissory notes, chapter fourteen; to civil rights, chapter eighteen; to com-
mon and statute law of England, chapter twenty; to contempts, chapter twenty-six; to municipal corporations, chapter twenty-nine, division one; to costs, chapter thirty; to descents and distribu- tions, chapter forty-nine; to divorce, chapter fifty- two, and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the circuit courts of Ar- kansas under this chapter; to dower, chapter fifty-two; to evidence, chapter fifty-nine; to exe- cution, chapter sixty; to fees, chapter sixty-three; to forcible entry and detainer, chapter sixty-seven; to frauds, statute of, chapter sixty-eight; to fugi- tives from justice, chapter sixty-nine; to gaming contracts, chapter seventy; to guardians, curators, and wards, chapter seventy-three, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint guardians and curators; to habeas corpus, chapter seventy- four; to injunction, chapter eighty-one; to insane persons and drunkards, chapter eighty-two, and said court in the Indian Territory shall exercise the powers of the probate courts of Arkansas under this chapter; to joint and several obligations and contracts, chapter eighty-seven; to judgments and decrees, chapter eighty-eight; to judgments summary, chapter eighty-nine; to jury, chapter ninety; to landlord and tenant, chapter ninety-two; to legal notices and advertisements, chapter ninety- four; to liens, chapter ninety-six; to limitations, chapter ninety-seven; to mandamus and prohibi- tion, chapter one hundred; to marriage contracts, chapter one hundred and two; to marriages, chap- ter one hundred and three; to married women, chapter one hundred and four; to money and in- terest, chapter one hundred and nine; to mort- gages, chapter one hundred and ten; to notaries public, chapter one hundred and eleven, and said court in the Indian Territory shall appoint nota- ries public under this chapter; to partition and sale of lands, chapter one hundred and fifteen; to pleadings and practice, chapter one hundred and nineteen; to recorders, chapter one hundred and twenty-six; to replevin, chapter one hundred and twenty-eight; to venue, change of, chapter one hundred and fifty-three; and to wills and tes- taments, chapter one hundred and fifty-five; and wherever in said laws of Arkansas the courts of record of said State are mentioned the said court in the Indian Territory shall be substituted there- for; and wherever the clerks of said courts are mentioned in said laws the clerk of said court in the Indian Territory and his deputies, respectively, shall be substituted therefor; and wherever the sheriff of the county is mentioned in said laws the United States marshal of the Indian Territory shall be substituted therefor, for the purpose, in each of the cases mentioned, of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the Indian Territory.
That no attachment shall issue against improve- ments on real estate while the title to the land is
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vested in any Indian nation, except where such improvements have been made by persons, com- panies, or corporations operating coal or other mines, railroads, or other industries under lease or permission of law of an Indian national coun- cil, or charter, or law of the United States.
That executions upon judgments obtained in any other than Indian courts shall not be valid for the sale or conveyance of title to improve- ments made upon lands owned by an Indian na- tion, except in the cases wherein attachments are provided for. Upon a return of nulla bona, upon an execution upon any judgment against an adopt- ed citizen of any Indian tribe, or against any person residing in the Indian country and not a citizen thereof, if the judgment debtor shall be the owner of any improvements upon real estate within the Indian Territory in excess of one hun- dred and sixty acres occupied as a homestead, such improvements may be subjected to the payment of such judgment by a decree of the court in which such judgment was rendered. Proceedings to subject such property to the payment of judg- ments may be by petition, of which the judgment debtor shall have notice as in the original suit. If on the hearing the court shall be satisfied from the evidence that the judgment debtor is the owner of improvements on real estate subject to the payment of said judgment, the court may order the same sold, and the proceeds, or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy said judg- ment and costs, applied to the payment of said judgment; or if the improvement is of sufficient rental value to discharge the judgment within a reasonable time the court may appoint a receiver, who shall take charge of such property and apply the rental receipts thereof to the payment of such judgment, under such regulations as the court may prescribe. If under such proceeding any improvement is sold only citizens of the tribe in which said property is situate may become the purchaser thereof.
The Constitution of the United States and all general laws of the United States which prohibit crimes and misdemeanors in any place within the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, except in the District of Columbia, and all laws relating to national banking associations shall have the same force and effect in the Indian Territory as elsewhere in the United States; but nothing in this act shall be so construed as to deprive any of the courts of the civilized nations of exclusive jurisdiction over all cases arising wherein members of said nations, whether by treaty, blood, or adoption, are the sole parties, nor so as to interfere with the right and power of said civilized nations to punish said members for violation of the statutes and laws enacted by their national councils where such laws are not
contrary to the treaties and laws of the United States.
SEC. 32. That the word "county," as used in any of the laws of Arkansas which are put in force in the Indian Territory by the provisions of this act, shall be construed to embrace the ter- ritory within the limits of a judicial division in said Indian Territory; and whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word "county" is used, the words "judicial division" may be substituted therefor, in said Indian Territory, for the purposes of this act. And whenever in said laws of Arkansas the word "State" or the words "State of Arkansas" are used, the word "Territory," or the words 'In- dian Territory," may be substituted therefor, for the purposes of this act, and for the purpose of making said laws of Arkansas applicable to the said Indian Territory; but all prosecutions therein shall run in the name of the "United States."
SEC. 33. That the provisions of chapter forty- five of the said general laws of Arkansas, entitled "Criminal law," except as to the crimes and mis- demeanors mentioned in the provisos to this sec- tion, and the provisions of chapter forty-six of said general laws of Arkansas, entitled "Crim- inal Procedure," as far as they are applicable, are hereby extended over and put in force in the In- dian Territory, and jurisdiction to enforce said provisions is hereby conferred upon the United States court therein: Provided, That in all cases where the laws of the United States and the said criminal laws of Arkansas have provided for the punishment of the same offenses the laws of the United States shall govern as to such offenses: And provided further, That the United States cir- cuit and district courts, respectively, for the west- ern district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, shall continue to exercise exclusive jurisdiction as now provided by law in the Indian Territory as defined in this act, in their respective districts as heretofore established, over all crimes and misdemeanors against the laws of the United States applicable to the said Terri- tory, which are punishable by said laws of the United States by death or by imprisonment at hard labor, except as otherwise provided in the following sections of this act.
SEC. 34. That original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the In- dian Territory to enforce the provisions of title twenty-eight, chapters three and four, of the Re- vised Statutes of the United States in said Terri- tory, except the offenses defined and embraced in sections twenty-one hundred and forty-two and twenty-one hundred and forty-three: Provided, That as to the violations of the provisions of sec- tion twenty-one hundred and thirty-nine of said Revised Statutes, the jurisdiction of said court in the Indian Territory shall be concurrent with the
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jurisdiction exercised in the enforcement of such provisions by the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern dis- triet of Texas; Provided, That all violations of said chapters three and four, prior to the passage of this act, shall be prosecuted in the said United States courts, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
SEC. 35. That exclusive original jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Territory to enforce the provisions of chapter four, title seventy, of the Revised Statutes of the United States entitled "Crimes against justice," in all cases where the crimes mentioned therein are committed in any judicial proceeding in the Indian Territory and where such crimes affect or impede the enforcement of the laws in the courts established in said Territory : Provided, That all violations of the provisions of said chap- ter prior to the passage of this act shall be prose- cuted in the United States courts for the western district of Arkansas and the eastern district of Texas, respectively, the same as if this act had not been passed.
Src. 36. That jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the United States court in the Indian Terri- tory over all controversies arising between mem- bers or citizens of one tribe or nation of Indians and the members or citizens of other tribes or nations in the Indian Territory, and any citizen or member of one tribe or nation who may commit any offense or crime against the person or prop- erty of a citizen or member of another tribe or nation shall be subject to the same punishment in the Indian Territory as he would be if both par- ties were citizens of the United States. And any member or citizen of any Indian tribe or na- tion in the Indian Territory shall have the right to invoke the aid of said court therein for the protection of his person or property as against any person not a member of the same tribe or na- tion, as though he were a citizen of the United States.
SEc. 37. That if any person shall, in the In- dian Territory, open, carry on, promote, make or draw, publicly or privately, any lottery, or scheme of chance of any kind or description, by whatever name, style or title the same may be denominated or known, or shall, in said Territory, vend, sell, bar- ter or dispose of any lottery ticket or tickets, or- der or orders, device or devices, of any kind, for, or representing any number of shares or any in- terest in any lottery or scheme of chance or shall open or establish a8 owner or otherwise any lottery or scheme of chance in said Territory, or shall be in any wise concerned in any lottery or scheme of chance, by acting as owner or agent in said Territory, for or on behalf of any lottery or scheme of chance, to be drawn, paid or
carried on, either out of or within said Territory, every such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined for the first offense, not exceeding five hun- dred dollars, and for the second offense shall, on conviction, be fined not less than five hundred dollars and not exceeding five thousand, and he may be imprisoned, in the discretion of the court, not exceeding one year. And jurisdiction to en- force the provisions of this section is hereby con- ferred upon the United States court in said In- dian Territory, and all persons therein, including Indians and members and citizens of Indian tribes and nations, shall be subject to its provisions and penalties.
SEC. 38. The clerk and deputy clerks of said United States court shall have the power within their respective divisions to issue marriage licenses or certificates and to solemnize marriages. They shall keep copies of all marriage licenses or certi- ficates issued by them, and a record book in which shall be recorded all licenses or certificates after the marriage has been solemnized, and all persons authorized by law to solemnize marriages shall re- turn the license or certificate, after executing the same, to the clerk or deputy clerk who issued it, together with his return thereon. They shall also be ex-officio recorders within their respective di- visions, and as such they shall perform such duties as are required of recorders of deeds under the said laws of Arkansas, and receive the fees and compensation therefor which are provided in said laws of Arkansas for like service: Provided, That all marriages heretofore contracted under the laws or tribal customs of any Indian nation now located in the Indian Territory are hereby declared valid, and the issue of such marriages shall be deemed legitimate and entitled to all inheritances of prop- erty or other rights, the same as in the case of the issue of other forms of lawful marriage: Pro- vided further, That said chapter one hundred and three of said laws of Arkansas shall not be con- strued so as to interfere with the operation of the laws governing marriage enacted by any of the civilized tribes, nor to confer any authority upon any officer of said court to unite a citizen of the United States in marriage with a member of any of the civilized nations until the prelimi- naries to such marriage shall have first been ar- ranged according to the laws of the nation of which said Indian person is a member: And pro- vided further, That where such marriage is re- quired by law of an Indian nation to be of record, the certificate of such marriage shall be sent for record to the proper officer as provided in such law enacted by the Indian nation.
SEC. 39. That the United States court in the Indian Territory shall have all the powers of the United States circuit courts or circuit court judges
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to appoint commissioners within said Indian Ter- ritory, who shall be learned in the law, and shall be known as United States commissioners; but not exceeding three commissioners shall be ap- pointed for any one division, and such commis- sioners when appointed shall have, within the dis- triet to be designated in the order appointing them, all the powers of commissioners of circuit courts of the United States. They shall be ex- officio notaries public, and shall have power to solemnize marriages. The provisions of chapter ninety-one of the said laws of Arkansas, regulat- ing the jurisdiction and procedure before justices of the peace, are hereby extended over the Indian Territory; and said commissioners shall exercise all the powers conferred by the laws of Arkansas upon justices of the peace within their districts; but they shall have no jurisdiction to try any cause where the value of the thing or the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred dollars.
Appeals may be taken from the final judgment of said commissioners to the United States court in said Indian Territory in all cases and in the same manner that appeals may be taken from the final judgments of justices of the peace under the provisions of said chapter ninety-one. The said court may appoint a constable for each of the commissioner's districts designated by the court, and the constable so appointed shall perform all the duties required of constables under the pro- vision of chapter twenty-four and other laws of the State of Arkansas. Each commissioner and constable shall execute to the United States, for the security of the public, a good and sufficient bond, in the sum of five thousand dollars, to be ap- proved by the judge appointing him, conditioned that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office and account for all moneys coming into his hands, and he shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and to faithfully perform the duties required of him.
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