Hopper v. Nation

Citations

• 78 Kan. 198
• 96 P. 77
• 1908 Kan. LEXIS 32

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. School-lands — Appraisement—“Legal Subdivisions.” In the provision of the statute (Gen. Stat. 1901, § 6339) requiring each “legal subdivision” of school-land to be appraised separately prior to its being exposed to sale, the phrase quoted refers to the smallest subdivision under the congressional system of surveying, namely (except where for special reasons lots are platted in more or less irregular shape, as in the case of fractional sections), quarter quarter-sections, or forty-acre tracts.</p> <p>2. -Prairie Land — Subdivisions. The provision of the law relating to the sale of school-land (Gen. Stat. 1901, § 6346) that “timber land may be subdivided into lots of such size as the superintendent of public instruction and appraisers may deem best” implies that prairie land is not subject to indefinite subdivision, and the context fixes the limit at forty-acre tracts.</p> <p>3. - Tracts Less than Forty Acres — Evidence of Proper Subdivision. One who claims to have purchased school-land in tracts of less than forty acres must show, in order to enforce a right as such purchaser, that it was so subdivided by the county superintendent of public instruction and the appraisers.</p> <p>4. - Same. The decision of the probate judge that one who has petitioned as a settler is entitled to purchase school-land is conclusive only upon those matters as to which the court is required to find — that is, as to the facts stated in the petition; and, as the petition is not required to show a subdivision of the land by the statutory tribunal having jurisdiction thereof, such decision of the court, when made with respect to tracts of less than forty acres, does not determine that such subdivision has been duly authorized.</p> <p>5. - Settlement on Leased Lands — Bight to Purchase. A preference right to the purchase of school-land can not be acquired by settling- thereon while a lease is in force.</p> <p>6. - Termination of Lease. The lessee of school-l