Jackson County v. Worth

Citations

• 127 Miss. 813
• 90 So. 588

Syllabus

<p>1. Public Lands. Oil lease without provision for animal rent held void as in violation of statute.</p> <p>Chapter 351, Laws 1918, providing for the leasing of sixteenth section school lands, requires the payment of annual rent, and also limits the power of the board of supervisors to leasing lands not already leased, and where the board undertook to lease such lands for a consideration of one dollar and one-eighth of the oil and gas produced for a period of fifteen years, with no provision for annual rent, and where there was no outstanding lease for agricultural purposes, the order of the board leasing such lands under chapter 351, Laws 1918, was void.</p> <p>3. Pubmc Lands Statutes. Statutes in pari materia considered and intent deduced from them considered as a whole; stahttes held to prohibit lease of school lands for longer than one year without consent of inhabitants.</p> <p>In construing statutes all statutes in pari materia are taken into consideration, and the legislative intent deduced from them considered as a whole. Acts 1918, chapter 351, when considered thus with section 4711, Code of 1906 (section 7533, Hemingway’s Code), providing for the obtaining of the consent of the inhabitants of the township before leasing sixteenth section school lands, and that no lease for a longer term than one year can be made unless such consent is obtained, a lease for fifteen years cannot be made unless the consent of the inhabitants of the township is obtained in the manner required by law. There is no conflict or inconsistency between chapter 351, Laws of 1918, and section 4711 of the Code of' 1906, and the latter act does not amend, modify, or repeal the Code section herein referred to.</p> <p>3. Constitutional Law: Constitutionality of statute will not be decided where the contract made under its provisions is void for noncompliance with its terms.</p> <p>Where the constitutionality of a statute is sought to be tested in a suit, the court will not decide such que